Physician Assisted Suicide

Margaret P. Battin is Professor of Philosophy and Adjunct Professor of Internal Medicine, Division of Medical Ethics at the University of Utah. She is the author of numerous books, including, The Least Worst Death (1994). Rosamond Rhodes is Director of Bioethics Education and Associate Professor of Medical Education at Mount Sinai School of Medicine, CUNY. Anita Silvers is Professor of Philosophy at San Francisco State University.

"...this book offers one of the most comprehensive tools to date for understanding the physician-assisted suicide debate." -- Janet Heald Forliani, Religious StudiesReview"This excellent collection succeeds in expanding the debate about legalizing physician-assisted suicide well beyond its current narrow framework." -- New EnglandJournal of Medicine"From protecting the weak to the question of saving health-care money through PAS, the book covers many often contentious subjects." -- Publishers Weekly"Physician Assisted Suicide is by far the most comprehensive collection of materials yet...Whether you know little about this issue, or thought that you knew everything there is to know on it, you are bound to learn more from reading this volume." -- Peter Singer, author of Rethinking Life and Death"In a field where a debate can easily degenerate into sound-bites, it is refreshing to find a collection of essays that examines the difficult issues in a thoughtful and balanced fashion. Everyone concerned with the personal, psychological, medical, social, religious, and legal dimensions of physician-assisted suicide needs this volume." -- Alexander M. Capron, Professor of Law and Medicine, University of Southern California Law School"The debate on physician-assisted suicide is infected by emotional and confused advocacy on all sides; the only defense is clear, honest, rigorous thought--which this book offers in abundance, illuminating the issues, elevating the debate, and exemplifying civil discourse." -- Samuel Gorovitz, Professor of Philosophy and of Public Administration, Syracuse University"The debate about legalizing physician-assisted suicide in the United States has been characterized more by exaggeration and hyperbole by both sides than by a carefully reasoned argument. Physician Assisted Suicide is important reading for those on either side of the debate who want to more deeply understand the enormous complexity of this topic. This collection of essays is an excellent antidote." -- Timothy E. Quill, M.D., author of Death and Dignity: Making Choices and Taking Charge and Psychiatry, University of Rochester"[There is] a refreshing lack of cant in these essays. This excellent collection, in short, accomplishes the goal proclaimed by the subtitle of the book: it succeeds in expanding the debate about legalizing physician-assisted suicide well beyond its current narrow framework." -- New England Journal of Medicine"... there is no doubt that one emerges much better informed. It should be required for any legislatures that are considering a change to the laws." -- Journal of Health Psychology

• Table of Contents Introduction I. Conceptual Issues Meanings of Death -- Patricia S. Mann Physician Assisted Suicide, Euthanasia, and Indending Death -- Frances Kramm Physician Assisted Suicide: Safe, Legal, and Rare? -- Margaret P. Battin II. Considering the Risk Are the Elderly a Special Case? -- Leslie P. Francis African-Americans and Physician Assisted Suicide -- Patricia King Why Suicide is like Contraception: A Women-Centered View -- Dena S. Davis Protecting the Innocents from Physician Assisted Suicide -- Anita Silvers Disability Discrimination and the Duty to Protect Otherwise Vulnerable Groups Assisted Suicide, Terminal Illness Severe Disability and the Double Standard -- Felicia Ackerman III. Considering the Practice of Medicine Physicians, Assisted Suicide, and the Right to Live or Die -- Rosamond Rhodes Physician, Stand Thy Ground -- Bernard Baumrin An Alternative to Physician Assisted Suicide -- Bernard Gert, Charles Culver and K. Danner Clouser Not in the House: Arguments for a Policy of Excluding Physician Assisted Suicide from the Practice of Hospital Medicine IV. Considering the Impact of Legalization Physician Assisted Suicide: to Decriminalize or to Legalize, that it the Question -- Lance K. Stell From 'Intention' to 'Consent': Learning from Experience with Euthanasia -- Helga Kuhse The Weakness of the Case for Legalizing Physician Assisted Suicide -- Don Marquis Physician Assisted Suicide: A Tragic View -- John Arras The Supreme Court and Legalization: An Ethically Inferior Alternative to Physician Assisted Suicide -- David Orentlicher Would Physician Assisted Suicide Save the Health Care System Money (Or, Is Jack Kevorkian Doing All of Us a Favor? -- Merrill Mathews, Jr. V. Considering Religious Perspectives A Catholic Perspective on Physician Assisted Suicide -- John Paris and Michael P. Moreland Christian Perspectives on Assisted Suicide and Euthanasia: The Anglican Tradition -- Cynthia B. Cohen A Protestant Perspective on Ending Life: Faithfulness in the Face of Death -- Allen Verhey Jewish Deliberations on Suicide: Exceptions, Toleration and Assistance -- Noam Zohar VI. Appendix The Supreme Court Decision delivered by Chief Justice Renquist Concurring Opinions by Justices Stevens, Souter, O'Connor, Ginsberg, Breyer The Philosophers' Brief The Oregon Death With Dignity Act: Measure #16