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Physician-Assisted Dying

The Case for Palliative Care and Patient Choice

edited by Timothy E. Quill, M.D., and Margaret P. Battin, Ph.D.

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Despite a growing consensus that effective palliative care should be a core element in the treatment of all terminally ill patients, challenging questions remain about the physician's role in helping suffering patients end their lives. Physician-assisted dying remains one of the most controversial issues facing doctors, lawmakers, and patients today, and the need for intelligent and informed opinion on both sides of the debate is greater than ever.

In this volume, a distinguished group of physicians, ethicists, lawyers, and activists come together to present the case for the legalization of...

Despite a growing consensus that effective palliative care should be a core element in the treatment of all terminally ill patients, challenging questions remain about the physician's role in helping suffering patients end their lives. Physician-assisted dying remains one of the most controversial issues facing doctors, lawmakers, and patients today, and the need for intelligent and informed opinion on both sides of the debate is greater than ever.

In this volume, a distinguished group of physicians, ethicists, lawyers, and activists come together to present the case for the legalization of physician-assisted dying, for terminally ill patients who voluntarily request it. To counter the arguments and assumptions of those opposed to legalization of assisted suicide, the contributors examine ethical arguments concerning self-determination and the relief of suffering; analyze empirical data from Oregon and the Netherlands; describe their personal experiences as physicians, family members, and patients; assess the legal and ethical responsibilities of the physician; and discuss the role of pain, depression, faith, and dignity in this decision. Together, the essays in this volume present strong arguments for the ethical acceptance and legal recognition of the practice of physician-assisted dying as a last resort—not as an alternative to excellent palliative care but as an important possibility for patients who seek it.

Contributors: Marcia Angell, Anthony L. Back, Charles H. Baron, Andrew I. Batavia, Tom L. Beauchamp, Els Borst-Eilers, Dan W. Brock, Christine K. Cassel, Eric J. Cassel, Barbara Coombs-Lee, Linda Ganzini, Peter Goodwin, Martin Gunderson, Gerrit K. Kimsma, Sylvia A. Law, David Mayo, Alan Meisel, Robert A. Pearlman, Thomas Preston, John Shelby Spong, Helene Starks, Eli D. Stutsman, Kathryn L. Tucker, Johannes J. M. Van Delden, Herman H. van der Kloot Meijburg, Evert van Leeuwen, Jaap J. F. Visser

Reviews

Reviews

A very persuasive brief, combining empirical data, logical argumentation, and appeals to compassion.

An excellent addition to the debate surrounding physician-assisted suicide and choice at the end of life. Reading this book along with The Case Against Assisted Suicide (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2002) would provide a thorough grounding in this issue.

Readers who are interested in a balanced counterpoint highlighting the best arguments of advocates and opponents of the legalization of assisted suicide should read both Physician-Assisted Dying and Foley and Hendin's book.

This excellent book presents arguments supporting acceptance of physician-assisted death as an option for terminally ill patients who are suffering from extreme pain unrelieved by narcotics and whose only wish is to die.

The collection is the indispensable starting place for anyone wishing to become better informed about the present arguments over physician-assisted dying (especially in the United States), and it belongs in every high school, university, and medical library in the country.

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Book Details

Publication Date
Status
Available
Trim Size
6
x
9
Pages
320
ISBN
9780801880704
Table of Contents

Acknowledgements
List of Contributors
Introduction
. False Dichotomy versus Genuine Choice: The Argument over Physician-Assisted Dying
Part I: Perspectives on Mercy, Nonabandonment, Autonomy, and Choice
Ch

Acknowledgements
List of Contributors
Introduction
. False Dichotomy versus Genuine Choice: The Argument over Physician-Assisted Dying
Part I: Perspectives on Mercy, Nonabandonment, Autonomy, and Choice
Chapter 1. The Quality of Mercy
Chapter 2. Nonabandonment: A Central Obligation for Physicians
Chapter 3. The Role of Autonomy in Choosing Physician Aid in Dying
Chapter 4. Disability and Physician-Assisted Dying
Chapter 5. When Suffering Patients Seek Death
Part II: Clinical, Philosophical, and Religious Issues about the Ending of Life
Chapter 6. Why Do People Seek Physician-Assisted Death?
Chapter 7. Doctor-Patient Communication about Physician-Assisted Suicide
Chapter 8. When Hastened Death Is Neither Killing Nor Letting Die
Chapter 9. Physician-Assisted Suicide as a Last-Resort Option at the End of Life
Chapter 10. Death: A Friend to Be Welcomed, Not an Enemy to Be Defeated
Part III: Open Practice in a Legally Tolerant Environment
Chapter 11. The Oregon Experience
Chapter 12. The Distortion of Cases in Oregon
Chapter 13. A Model That Integrates Assisted Dying with Excellent End-of-Life Care
Chapter 14. Thirty Years' Experience with Euthanasia in the Netherlands: Focusing on the Patient as a Person
Chapter 15. The Death of My Father
Chapter 16. Assisted Death in the Netherlands: Physicians at the Bedside When Help Is Requested
Part IV: Political and Legal Ferment
Chapter 17. Political Strategy and Legal Change
Chapter 18. Legal Advocacy to Improve Care and Expand Options at the End of Life
Chapter 19. Physician-Assisted Suicide: Shifting the Focus from Means to Ends
Chapter 20. Choice in Dying: A Political and Constitutional Context
Chapter 21. Hastening Death: The Seven Deadly Sins of the Status Quo
Conclusion. Excellent Palliative Care as the Standard, Physician-Assisted Dying as a Last Resort
Index

Author Bios
Featured Contributor

Timothy E. Quill, M.D.

Timothy E. Quill, M.D., is a professor of medicine, psychiatry, and medical humanities at the University of Rochester and author of A Midwife through the Dying Process, also available from Johns Hopkins.
Featured Contributor

Margaret P. Battin, Ph.D.

Margaret P. Battin, Ph.D., is Distinguished Professor of Philosophy and an adjunct professor of medical ethics at the University of Utah. She is the author of The Least Worst Death.