Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-94fs2 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-06T04:02:51.830Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Setting Limits on Death: A View From the United States

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 July 2009

Sandra H. Johnson
Sandra H. Johnson
Affiliation:
Professor of Law at the Center for Health Law Studies of the Saint Louis University School of Law with joint appointments at the University's Schools of Medicine and Public Health, St. Louis, Missouri, and President-Elect of the American Society of Law, Medicine & Ethics.
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

Assisted suicide is a tragic issue, one of those for which the tools of mere logic are inadequate and in which the power of the individual case is compelling and seductive but not necessarily clarifying. Meaningful dialogue is difficult. Persuasion is limited because the resolution of the issue, on a moral level, must be founded upon fundamental notions of what it means to be human, especially in the midst of suffering or disability or at the point of death.

Type
Special Section: Physician-Aided Death: The Escalating Debate
Information
Cambridge Quarterly of Healthcare Ethics , Volume 5 , Issue 1 , Winter 1996 , pp. 24 - 32
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1996

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Notes

1. Quill, TE. Death and dignity: a case of individualized decision making. New England Journal of Medicine 1991;324:691.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed

2. Aid in Dying Act, Initiative Measure 199. Washington, 1991.Google Scholar

3. Death With Dignity Act, Initiative Measure 161. California, 1992.Google Scholar

4. Natural Death Act, Death With Dignity Act, 1995 Oregon Laws Chap. 3 (I. M. 16); Lee v. Oregon, 1995 WL 471,792 (D. Or. 1995).

5. Compassion in Dying v. Washington, 49 F.3d 586 (9th Cir. 1995); Quill v. Koppell, 870 F. Supp. 78 (S.D.N.Y. 1994); People v. Kevorkian, 527 N. W. 2d 714 (Mich. 1994); Lee v. Oregon, 1995 WL 471,792 (D. Or. 1995).

6. For a discussion of the importance of language in framing the issue see Somerville MA. The song of death: the lyrics of euthanasia. Journal of Contemporary Health Law and Policy 1993;9:1–76.Google Scholar

7. O'Keefe, M. Doctor-assisted suicide law boils down to a war of words. The Oregonian 1994;12 1:A01.Google Scholar

8. Jacobs, P. Prop. 161 – a matter of life or death at the polling place. Los Angeles Times 1992;10 10:20.Google Scholar

9. Council on Ethical and Judicial Affairs. Decisions near the end of life. Journal of the American Medical Society 1992;267:2229.Google Scholar

10. See for example, Cruzan v. Director, Missouri Dept. of Health, 110 S. Ct. 2841, 497 U.S. 261 111 L. Ed. 2d 224, 1990.

11. Humphry, D. Final exit: the practicalities of self-deliverance and assisted suicide for the dying. 1992.Google Scholar

12. Dalbey, Donahue JW. Physician-assisted suicide: a “right” reserved only for the competent? Vermont Law Review 1995; 19:795.Google Scholar

13. See for example, People v. Kevorkian, 519 N. W. 2d 898 (Mich. 1994); People v. Kevorkian, 519 N. W. 2d 890 (Mich. 1994); People v. Kevorkian, 517 N. W. 2d 293 (Mich. App. 1994); Hobbins v. Attorney General, 518 N. W. 2d 487 (Mich. App. 1994). See also Hobbins v. Attorney General, 518 N. W. 2d 487 (Mich. App. 1994), reviewing only the constitutionality of the statute passed in response to dismissal of charges against Kevorkian.

14. Ostrom CM. Kervorkian jurors did right thing for wrong reason. Seattle Times 1994;May 3:A5.Google Scholar

15. See for example, Rasmussen v. Fleming, 741 P. 12d 674, 1987.

16. Kiernan L. Right to die issue clouded by Kevorkian, . Chicago Tribune 1993;November 28.Google Scholar

17. See for example, Compassion in Dying v. Washington, 49 F. 3d 586 (9th Cir. 1995), in which the plaintiffs included a 68-year-old pediatrician with metastasized cancer, a 44-year-old in the terminal stage of AIDS, and a 67-year-old dependent on oxygen because of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

18. Superintendent v. Saikewicz, 370 N. E. 2d 417 (Mass. 1977).

19. Orentlicher D. Physician-assisted dying: the conflict with fundamental principles of American law. In: Medicine Unbound: The Human Body and the Limitations of Medical Intervention. Blank, RH, Bonnicksen, L, Eds.,Google Scholar

20. 42 U.S.C. s 12, 101–12,213. Although the Federal Court enjoining the Oregon legislation [Lee v. Oregon, 1995 WL 471,792 (D. Or. 1995)] relied upon the equal protection clause for its decision, it is not likely that a constitutional right to lethal intervention ultimately will be recognized. See for example, Quill v. Koppell, 870 F. Supp. 78 (S.D.N.Y. 1994); Compassion in Dying in Washington, 49 F. 3d 586 (9th Cir. 1995).

21. See for example, Quill, TE. Death and dignity: a case of individualized decision making. New England Journal of Medicine 1991;691:324.Google Scholar

22. See for example, In re Quinlan, 355 A. 2d 647 (N.J. 1976).

23. Gelfand, G. Living will statutes: the first decade. Wisconsin Law Review 1987;737.Google Scholar

24. US Bureau of the Census. Health insurance coverage–who had a lapse between 1990–1992? [Statistical brief] 1994.

25. Franks, P, Clancy, CM, Gold, MR. Health insurance and mortality: evidence from a national cohort. Journal of the American Medical Association 1993;270:7373.Google ScholarPubMed

26. Caplan, A. Nation lacking full care shouldn't offer death. Detroit Free Press 1994;October 4:7F.Google Scholar

27. See for example, Orentlicher, D. The illusion of patient choice in end-of-life decisions. Journal of the American Medical Association 1992;267:2101.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed

28. See for example, Snyder, CB. An open letter to physicians who have patients with chronic non-malignant pain. Journal of Law, Medicine and Ethics 1994;22:204–5.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

29. See for example, Joranson, DF, Cleeland, CS, Gilson, AM. Opoids for chronic cancer and non-cancer pain: a survey of state medical board members. Federation Bulletin 1992;June: 15–49.Google Scholar

30. State of California. Summit on Effective Pain Management: Removing Impediments to Appropriate Prescribing 1994:3;Google ScholarWomen and minorities get unequal medical treatment. Special Delivery 1993; 17:15, reporting on a study indicating that Latino patients who were treated at the UCLA emergency department for leg and arm fractures were half as likely to receive pain medication.Google Scholar

31. Collopy, B, Dubler, N, Zuckerman, C. The ethics of home care: autonomy and accommodation. Hastings Center Report 1990;20:S1–S16.Google ScholarPubMed

32. For a cultural analysis of disability see Wendell, S. Toward a feminist theory of disability. Hypatia 1989;4:63–78.CrossRefGoogle Scholar