Assisted suicide

Physician-assisted suicide.

Medical professional codes have long prohibited physician involvement in assisting a patient's suicide. However, despite ethical and legal prohibitions, calls for the liberalization of this ban have grown in recent years. The medical profession should articulate its views on the arguments for and against changes in public policy and decide whether changes are prudent. In addressing such a conte...

Physician-assisted suicide.

On election day, November 14, 1994, Oregon voters elected a physician, Dr. John Kitzhaber, as their governor and, simultaneously, granted physicians the legal authority to help people end their own lives. By passing Ballot Measure 16,1 the voters decided that a physician may, at a patient's request, prescribe a medication "for the purpose of ending his or her life in a humane and dignified mann...

Palliative care or assisted suicide?

Nonphysician-assisted suicide in Switzerland.

In general, legal responses to end-of-life issues are not very different in Switzerland than in most European countries. For instance, active euthanasia (i.e. killing on request) is illegal, although it is treated as a lesser offense than murder or manslaughter. Article 114 of the Swiss Penal Code reads, “Every person who, for honorable reasons, especially mercy, kills another person on his or ...

Assisted suicide and disabled people.