This work investigates the philosophical question of whether individuals can be harmed after they have died, and how such harm impacts bioethical decision-making. James Stacey Taylor, a professor of philosophy, utilizes analytic moral philosophy to examine the conceptual possibility of posthumous harm. He evaluates various theories of well-being and interest-based accounts to determine if a person's life can be made worse by events occurring after their death, specifically in the context of medical research and organ donation.

Scholars in the field of bioethics identify this text as a significant contribution to the debate surrounding the moral status of the dead. Readers frequently note the academic density of the prose, which requires a strong background in ethical theory to fully engage with the author's arguments.