Role of non-governmental organisations in physician assisted suicide

Animal welfare: the role of non-governmental organisations.

The welfare of animals is of interest to many people in most parts of the world. Concern about the way that animals are treated will depend on many factors, including socio-economic conditions, culture, religion and tradition. The World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) is committed to ensuring that all animal welfare standards are science-based, but recognises that these other factors must ...

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...

Physician-assisted suicide and federalism.

ALS and physician-assisted suicide.

Patients with a new diagnosis of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) may struggle with uncertainty about progression and the realization that they will lose key functions and how they will ultimately cope. Eventually, most lose abilities to talk, walk or transfer, swallow, and feed themselves, and are increasingly dependent on others. Thus, the diagnosis creates a complex psychodynamic and exis...