The Right to Die Under Florida Law This paper wi

The question of whether or not a person has a "right to die" by refusing treatment which would prolong or sustain his or her life is a very controversial one. Lawmakers and judges have said that such a right emanates from the basic right of privacy. This translates into a right to refuse medical treatment. The Florida legislature has said that while this right is a fundamental one it "is subject to certain interests of society, such as the protection of human life and the preservation of ethical standards in the medical profession" (Fla. Stat. § 765.102(1)). This shows the basic tension between personal rights of autonomy and societal interests. The most common argument against recognizing a right to die is that it would create a "slippery slope" leading to the elimination of persons who cannot function as useful members of society

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which would recognize a right to die with dignity. Under this proposed legislation, a person could execute a document directing "that his life shall not be prolonged beyond the point of a meaningful existence." The document would have to be recorded with the clerk of the circuit court. If the person was unable to make the decision, it could be made by a spouse of immediate next of kin; if there was no such kin, then three physicians could make the decision with the approval of the circuit court judge (Fla. HB 3184, 1970). This bill was repeatedly defeated and reintroduced throughout the first half of the 1970s (Calder, 1992, pp. 297-98). In spite of the legislative efforts, the Florida Court of Appeals was the first governmental body to assert that there was some sort of right to die in Florida. In Satz v. Perlmutter, the court held that a competent but terminally ill patient had the right to direct that a mechanical respirator be removed, even though the respirator was necessary for his life. The court evaluated four state interests in preventing such a removal: (1) the preservation of life, (2) the protection of the interests of third parties, (3) the prevention of suicide, and (4) maintaining the ethical integrity of th
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Approximate Word count = 2279
Approximate Pages = 9 (250 words per page)