Assisted suicide Archives - Page 11 of 11 - Protection of Conscience Project Library

(Editorial) Physician assisted suicide, euthanasia, or withdrawal of treatment: Distinguishing between them clarifies moral, legal, and practical positions

Larry R Churchill, Nancy MP King

British Medical Journal, BMJ — British Medical Journal

Extract
. . . In unanimous rulings last month, [United States] Chief Justice Rehnquist, writing for the court, held that there is no fundamental right to assistance in committing suicide1 and that, legally, distinguishing between refusing life saving medical treatment and requesting assistance in suicide “comports with fundamental legal principles of causation and intent.”

. . . Attempts to decriminalise assisted suicide in Britain have so far fallen well short of legislation.. . . Pressure groups in favour of voluntary euthanasia seem to accept that it will be difficult to achieve euthanasia legislation in one step but consider that assisted suicide represents a more attainable goal. From an opinion survey of Scottish doctors, the medical profession seems less resistant to assisting suicide than to practising euthanasia. . .

. . . it remains to be seen whether societal acceptance of physician assisted suicide will increase and how it will affect both social support for vulnerable and dying citizens and trust between patients and their doctors.

Churchill LR, King NMP. (Editorial) Physician assisted suicide, euthanasia, or withdrawal of treatment: Distinguishing between them clarifies moral, legal, and practical positions. Br Med J. 1997 Jul 19;315(7101):137-138.

(Correspondence) Some final responses to Dr. Waugh

Paul V Adams

Canadian Medical Association Journal, CMAJ — Canadian Medical Association Journal

Extract
We can ask ourselves: Where will we stand in 30 years if there are amendments to the Criminal Code in regard to the taking of human life, as are now being discussed? If mercy killing, physician-assisted suicide and euthanasia became legal activities — even under certain restricted guidelines — there would be inevitable progression until widespread acceptance of these practices would be accompanied by major changes in attitudes. [Dr. Waugh planned to respond to these letters but was unable to do so before his death on Apr. 18, 1997. In this issue, CMAJ features a tribute to Waugh (page 1524) as well as an article on is- sues surrounding access to abortion services (page 1545). — Ed.].

Adams PV. (Correspondence) Some final responses to Dr. Waugh. Can Med Assoc J. 1997;156(11):1529.

Pharmaceutically assisted death and the pharmacist’s right of conscience

William L Allen, David B Brushwood

Extract
In this article, we describe the pharmacist’s potential involvement in what has been referred to as “physician assisted suicide”. We suggest that when a physician prescribes a medication for the purpose of terminating a patient’s life, and when that prescription is presented to a pharmacist for filling, a moral dilemma may exist. The basis of the dilemma is the choice a pharmacist may be required to make between the duty to fill a legal prescription for a medication that is deemed appropriate by both the prescriber and the patient, and the duty to adhere to one’s own belief that medication should not be used to end life. We contend that in filling a prescription, especially given the recent advances in pharmacy practice, a pharmacist is no mere bystander in drug therapy. Rather, the pharmacist is an active participant whose values, attitudes, and beliefs should be given consideration.

Allen WL, Brushwood DB. Pharmaceutically assisted death and the pharmacist’s right of conscience. J Pharm Law. 1996;5(1):1-18

(News) Murder-suicide involving BC doctor raises troubling questions about euthanasia

Valerie Wilson

Abstract
The deaths last September of a British Columbia physician and his wife have raised troubling questions about euthanasia and Alzheimer’s disease. Police described the deaths of Dr. Tom Powell and his wife Dr. Lorraine Miles, a retired dentist, as a murder-suicide. Friends of the couple wonder if more lenient laws concerning euthanasia and assisted suicide might have saved Miles’ life.

Wilson V. Murder-suicide involving BC doctor raises troubling questions about euthanasia. Can Med Ass J 1995 Jun 1; 152(11) 1855-1856.

In Britain Fewer Conflicts of Conscience

Cicely Saunders

Extract
The ethical principles of care have to balance patient autonomy or control with the justice owed to society as a whole. Our choices do not take place in a purely individual setting and the change in society’s attitude when a hastened death is available is illustrated by the changes that are taking place in the Netherlands.

Saunders C. In Britain Fewer Conflicts of Conscience. Hast Cent Rep. 1995 May-Jun;25(3):44-45.

Conflicts of Conscience: Hospice and Assisted Suicide

Courtney S Campbell, Jan Hare, Pam Matthews

Extract
Proposals to legalize assisted suicide challenge hospice’s identity and integrity. In the wake of Measure 16, Oregon hospice programs must develop practical policies to balance traditional commitments not to hasten death and not to abandon patients with dying patients’ legal right to request lethal prescriptions. . . . . .

Regardless of the path an individual hospice may follow,-it cannot avoid the uncharted and unknown territory of a law that legalizes a lethal prescription and a scheduled death for some terminally ill patients. Whether a hospice forges a path through the middle of this territory through full participation, skirts along its borders by forms of indirect participation, or creates a detour through abstention and nonparticipation, the nature and mission of hospice in Oregon will be irreversibly altered.

Campbell CS, Hare J, Matthews P. Conflicts of Conscience: Hospice and Assisted Suicide. Hastings Cent Rep. 1995 May;36-43.

Has the Time Come for Doctor Death: Should Physician-Assisted Suicide Be Legalized

Wendy N Weigand

Extract
The implications of legalizing euthanasia for the medical profession and the potential for abuses are very troubling. Before public policy or legislation is formulated, the ethical issues inherent in the practice of euthanasia must be critically examined. . . It is the author’s assertion that the legalization of assisted suicide and/or physician-aid-in-dying is not the proper course of action at this time. There are too many other options available to doctors, nurses, hospitals and other health care institutions which must be exercised to their fullest extent before any form of active euthanasia is legalized.

Weigand WN. Has the Time Come for Doctor Death: Should Physician-Assisted Suicide Be Legalized. J Law Health. 1993;7(2):321-350.

Religious Ethics and Active Euthanasia in a Pluralistic Society

Courtney S Campbell

Abstract
This article sets out a descriptive typology of religious perspectives on legalized euthanasia — political advocacy, individual conscience, silence, embedded opposition, and formal public opposition — and then examines the normative basis for these perspectives through the themes of sovereignty, stewardship, and the self. It also explores the public relevance of these religious perspectives for debates over legalized euthanasia, particularly in the realm of public policy. Ironically, the moral discourse of religious traditions on euthanasia may gain public relevance at the expense of its religious content. Nonetheless, religious traditions can provide a context of ultimacy and meaning to this debate, which is a condition for genuine pluralism.

Campbell CS. Religious Ethics and Active Euthanasia in a Pluralistic Society. Kennedy Inst Ethics J. 1992;2(3):253-277.

Euthanasia and related taboos

Eike-Henner Kluge

Extract
Like it or not, physicians are going to be reading a lot about euthanasia in the next few years. . . . Many physicians are more or less comfortable with the idea of withholding or withdrawing “medically useless” treatment. In other words, they accept passive euthanasia. . . . .If the medical profession thinks a physician might become responsible for a patient’s death through inaction, but without automatically bearing moral guilt, why does it insist that a physician who becomes responsible for the death of a patient through action automatically becomes morally guilty? . . . Medical ethics should never be decided by consensus or because of what is politically expedient. . .I am not making a plea for active euthanasia. I am suggesting that Canadian physicians should look at this issue honestly and openly.

Kluge E-H. Euthanasia and related taboos. Can Med Assoc J. 1991 Feb 01;144(3):359-360.

Giving death a helping hand

Mina Gasser Battagin

Extract
Can Christians accept martyrdom on the one hand and reject euthanasia on the other? What makes one form of killing acceptable, the other reprehensible? What judgements are to be made, for example, if, during childbirth, a choice must be made between saving the life of the child or the life of the mother? How do we decide whose life is more important and, therefore, whose life must be saved? Who has the most to lose or the most to gain? What is fair? And who makes that decision?

Battagin MG. Giving death a helping hand. Can Med Assoc J. 1991;144(3):358-359.