My Eccentric Family: Memories from a Communist, Mafioso, Zionist Past by Norman L. Cantor

Author:Norman L. Cantor [Cantor, Norman L.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2020-11-07T22:00:00+00:00

Chapter IV

Professional Focus: Exploring the Path to a Reasonably Dignified Death

As noted in Chapter II, my choice of an academic career was neither deliberate nor well considered. I was determined not to succumb to the pressures to enter law practice with my mother, the Judge, and my step-brother at P & R. Getting paid to teach and write seemed like a salutary, temporary refuge. Academic work might beat the onerous work of novice lawyering in the trenches, and it would certainly beat working in the P & R loony bin. So I used my 3-year appointment as an assistant professor of law, at age 26, as an excuse not to enter law practice.

An academic position in law turned out to be a propitious choice. Law faculty drew higher salaries than other academic types on the theory that high pay was needed to lure the best legal minds away from the lucrative practice of law. I was paid well to study, analyze, and teach legal topics that I found engaging and challenging – Labor Law, Constitutional Law, Contracts, and Law and Public Health. I had stumbled into a life work that turned out to be gratifying and pleasurable.

The classroom dynamic was challenging and enjoyable. I strictly adhered to the Socratic method of posing questions aimed at prompting thoughtful student reflection, analysis, and discussion. Unlike John Houseman, the gruff law professor in the classic Paper Chase movie, I refrained from badgering or humiliating students. I depended on volunteers rather than standing people up and grilling them. And I relied on gentle humor rather than ridicule to redirect student responses that were off the mark. Teaching was fun and I consistently earned high ratings in student assessments.

My satisfaction with teaching was surpassed by my enthusiasm for legal scholarship – the publication of works analyzing emerging legal issues. I loved the challenge of confronting unresolved, puzzling questions and suggesting resolutions to the quandaries posed. The reflection process might be long and laborious, but the resulting resolution of issues was a gratifying reward.

My early focus was on federal Labor Law and my tenure and promotion were grounded mainly on law review articles in that field. I also published on occasion on issues of civil liberties such as boundaries of free speech and freedom of conscience. My principal scholarly focus, though, was on the legal aspects of death and dying.

My object in death and dying scholarship was to discern the best methodology – in both practical and legal terms – for dying with a modicum of dignity. At first blush, death with dignity appears to be an oxymoron. Rarely does a person die peacefully in their sleep at an advanced age after they have fulfilled their wishes for a fruitful and fulfilling life. Most deaths are the product of an untimely and unwanted scourge. Yet some deaths are better, or more dignified, than others. For example, a fatally stricken patient may prefer to die at a designated moment, having made last farewells, rather than remain tethered

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