irst state to legalize physician-assisted suicide for the terminally ill; the Death With dignity Act allows qualified patients to legally request and obtain a dignified death. Physicians are to decide whether they are willing to participate or not, if a case fits the provisions of the act, and how to resolve practical issues. The act prohibits active euthanasia, mercy killing, and lethal injection; assistance is not granted to physicians for those too incapacitated to take their own lethal medication. Patients must have decision-making capacity; advance directives or surrogate decision makers are not granted. Residency is required although residency requirements are not defined by the act (Alpers & Lo, 1995).
Angell (1997) reports that later this year the U.S. Supreme Court will decide whether to let decisions by two appeals courts stand; the decisions permit doctors to help the terminally ill patients commit suicide. State laws in Washington and New York that ban doctor's assistance to their patients in suicide were held as unconstitutional by Circuit Courts of Appeals. If the decision is upheld, doctors would have the option of prescribing a lethal dose of a drug and advising the patient on its use for suicide. The courts base their decisions on fundamental rights rather than the political process; suicide, like abortion, is a personal choice protected by the Constitution and forbidding doctors to assist would nullify these rights.
There are three ways to assist with the death of a dying patient. Life-sustaining treatment can be withdrawn, the doctor can assist with suicide, and the doctor can administer a lethal drug (euthanasia). Since 1976, the right to stop treatment has been repeatedly recognized; it was affirmed by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1990 and by the U.S. Congress in 1990 (Patient Self-Determination Act). The patient has the right to be free of unwanted bodily invasion. Physician-assisted suicide and euth...