Medically provoked death, whether euthanasia or assisted suicide, is a common issue for discussion in various forums, participants coming from widely differing fields of knowledge, among who are, of course, doctors. Substantial legal differences exist in Europe on this issue and in an ever-wider Europe, it is essential, for practical reasons, that legislation be standardised. We would like to p...

Journal of Law, Medicine & Ethics, 24 (1996): 217–24. © 1996 by the American Society of Law, Medicine & Ethics. The question of legalizing physician-assisted suicide (PAS) has become a serious public debate. Growing interest in assisted suicide reflects a public increasingly fearful of the process of dying, particularly the prospect of dying a painful, protracted, or undignified death. PAS has ...

BACKGROUND A bill to legalise assisted dying in the UK has been proposed in Parliament's House of Lords three times since 2003. The House of Lords Select Committee concluded in 2005 that 'the few attempts to understand the basis of doctors' views have shown equivocal data varying over time'. Fresh research was recommended to gain a fuller understanding of health sector views. AIM To examine G...

If you only have time to read 1 article this month in Canadian Family Physician (CFP), I would recommend Dr Jeff Sutherland’s piece entitled “Physician-assisted suicide from a patient’s perspective,” which appears on page 115.1 Dr Sutherland, who has had amyotrophic lateral sclerosis for the past 8 years, talks frankly about his life and his choices, and how they have changed. And he talks abou...

This article invites consideration of how Australia should regulate voluntary euthanasia and assisted suicide. It attempts to pose this question as neutrally as possible, acknowledging that both prohibition and legalisation of such conduct involve decisions about regulation. It begins by charting the wider field of law at the end of life, before considering the repeated, but ultimately unsucces...

Patients who are imminently dying sometimes experience symptoms refractory to traditional palliative interventions, and in rare cases, continuous sedation is offered. Samuel H. LiPuma, in a recent article in this Journal, argues that continuous sedation until death is equivalent to physician-assisted suicide/euthanasia based on a higher brain neocortical definition of death. We contest his posi...

Professor Finlay is absolutely right that GPs’ opinions are vitally important in the assisted dying debate, and that it is important for the College to have a view on this issue.1 Physician-assisted suicide would involve GPs in assessing requests for assisted suicide and would also require GPs to prescribe lethal doses of medication. It would also be highly stressful for GPs, as seen in the Net...

Oregon's Death with Dignity Act was first passed by a ballot initiative in 1994, but numerous judicial challenges delayed implementation of the Act. In November of 1997, following the United States Supreme Court decisions in Vacco v. Quill and Washington v. Glucksberg, which left the states' power to regulate physician-assisted suicide undisturbed, the Oregon voters upheld their law. Oregon rem...

Professor Finlay is absolutely right that GPs’ opinions are vitally important in the assisted dying debate, and that it is important for the College to have a view on this issue.1 Physician-assisted suicide would involve GPs in assessing requests for assisted suicide and would also require GPs to prescribe lethal doses of medication. It would also be highly stressful for GPs, as seen in the Net...

BACKGROUND Whereas most studies have focused on euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide, few have dealt comprehensively with other critical interventions administered at the end of life. We surveyed cancer patients, family caregivers, oncologists and members of the general public to determine their attitudes toward such interventions. METHODS We administered a questionnaire to four groups a...