DOCSLIB.ORG

Annotated Legal Cases on Physician-Assisted Suicide in the USA

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Annotated Legal Cases on Physician-Assisted Suicide in the USA www.rbs2.com/pas.pdf 29 Jul 2012 Page 1 of 124 Annotated Legal Cases on Physician-Assisted Suicide in the USA Copyright 2005, 2012 by Ronald B. Standler no claim of copyright for works of the U.S. Government no claim of copyright for text of judicial opinions or other quotations Keywords assisted, assisting, Baxter, compassion, case, cases, death, die, Donaldson, dying, euthanasia, Glucksberg, Kevorkian, law, laws, legal, life, McIver, mercy killing, Oregon, physician, physician-assisted suicide, Quill, Sanderson, suicide, United States, U.S., U.S.A., Vacco Table of Contents Introduction . 3 definitions . 4 disclaimer . 5 Patients Who Want to Die . 6 reason we need physician-assisted suicide . 9 “It’s Over, Debbie” . 10 Suicide Was a Crime . 12 Assisting a Suicide Is a Crime . 13 statutes . 13 case law . 15 my comments . 17 possibility of criminal prosecution of physicians . 18 cases involving physicians . 20 cases involving nonphysicians . 22 consent of victim is not a defense . 24 Donaldson (Cal.App. 1992) . 27 Washington State v. Glucksberg (1994-97) . 31 en banc opinion of U.S. Court of Appeals . 32 six state interests . 39 1. preserving life . 40 www.rbs2.com/pas.pdf 29 Jul 2012 Page 2 of 124 2. preventing suicide . 42 3. preventing undue influence . 44 4. preventing injury to innocent third-parties . 45 5. protecting integrity of medical profession . 45 6. fear of adverse consequences . 46 the en banc majority opinion continues .... 46 U.S. Supreme Court . 48 Quill v. Vacco (1994-1997) . 65 U.S. Court of Appeals . 66 my comments on Quill . 70 Calabresi’s concurring opinion . 71 U.S. Supreme Court . 76 Kevorkian (Mich. 1993-2002) . 80 Krischer v. McIver (Fla. 1997) . 82 Sanderson v. Colorado (2000) . 84 my comments . 87 Oregon “Death With Dignity” Statute (1995-2006) . 90 laboratory of the states . 94 Ashcroft’s Regulation rejected . 95 Washington (2009) . 97 Montana (2009) . 98 Religious Origins . 102 Does Government “own” our lives? . 107 four state interests . 108 medieval law . 108 Is “Quality of Life” Relevant? . 110 my opinion on “quality of life” . 112 My Opinion . 113 suggested statute . 116 Views of Physicians . 117 www.rbs2.com/pas.pdf 29 Jul 2012 Page 3 of 124 Executions of Criminals . 120 Eighth Amendment . 121 Conclusion . 123 Introduction This essay contains annotated quotations from the major reported cases in the USA on the alleged legal right of an adult patient with a terminal illness to receive a lethal dose of drugs from his/her physician. I list the cases in chronological order in this essay, so the reader can easily follow the historical development of a national phenomenon. I have an earlier collection of annotated court cases on the legal right of a mentally competent adult to refuse medical care, even if that refusal would cause the patient’s death — the so-called right-to-die — which is posted on the Internet at http://www.rbs2.com/rtd.pdf . That essay includes a discussion of seven cases: 1. Matter of Quinlan, 355 A.2d 647 (N.J. 1976). 2. Eichner v. Dillon, 426 N.Y.S.2d 517 (N.Y.A.D. 2 Dept. 1980), mod. sub nom. Matter of Storar, 420 N.E.2d 64, 438 N.Y.S.2d 266 (N.Y. 1981) (case of Brother Fox). 3. Matter of Welfare of Colyer, 660 P.2d 738 (Wash. 1983). 4. Matter of Conroy, 486 A.2d 1209 (N.J. 1985). 5. Bouvia v. Superior Court, 225 Cal.Rptr. 297 (Cal.App. 2 Dist. 1986). 6. Cruzan v. Harmon 760 S.W.2d 408 (Mo. 1988), aff’d, 497 U.S. 261 (1990). 7. Matter of Theresa Schiavo in Florida state courts and U.S. federal courts. The problem of withdrawal of life-support machinery (e.g., ventilator or feeding tube) from patients in a persistent vegetative state was solved in a series of cases, beginning with Quinlan and ending with Cruzan. Furthermore, courts have had no difficulty in allowing conscious adult quadriplegics to refuse food or to request disconnection of their ventilator, see Bouvia and similar cases cited in my right-to-die essay. In contrast with the “right-to-die” cases in the previous paragraph, this essay considers physician-assisted suicide, where the physician either (1) prescribes a lethal dose of medication, knowing that the patient will use that medication to commit suicide, or (2) personally administers a lethal dose of medication. www.rbs2.com/pas.pdf 29 Jul 2012 Page 4 of 124 I am interested in this subject for two different reasons. First, I am interested in constitutional privacy law,1 which sets limits on the power of governments to intrude in personal choices and Second, I am interested in the relationship between technology and change in the law. Prior to the 1960s, people tended to die quickly. Modern medical technology can prolong life, even when the quality of life (according to the affected individual) is not worth living. People with a terminal illness can suffer great pain during the last year of their life, have no reasonable hope of recovery, and consume large amounts of money in health-care expenses. The legal and religious rules that worked well prior to the 1960s are suddenly not only inadequate, but also harsh and cruel. This essay is difficult to organize, because there are a number of different issues involved in why assisted suicide is currently a felony in most states in the USA, and there are more issues involved in why physician-assisted suicide should be lawful. I begin by explaining why some mentally competent people want to die. Beginning at page 13, I list the state statutes that prohibit assisted suicide. I then list some of the court cases that apply these statutes, and explain why consent of the victim is not a defense to the crime of assisting a suicide. The bulk of this essay is quotations from, and a discussion of, various court cases in which plaintiffs have sought the judicial declaration of a new legal right for physician-assisted suicide. I have arranged these cases in approximately historical order, so readers can follow the historical development of the law in this area. As discussed beginning at page 31 below, federal courts in Washington state (i.e., Glucksberg) and in New York state (i.e., Quill) found a legal right in the U.S. Constitution to physician-assisted suicide,.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • County of San Diego Department of the Medical Examiner 2016 Annual
    County of San Diego Department of the Medical Examiner 2016 Annual Report Dr. Glenn Wagner Chief Medical Examiner 2016 ANNUAL REPORT SAN DIEGO COUNTY MEDICAL EXAMINER TABLE OF CONTENTS TABLE OF CONTENTS EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ......................................................................... 1 OVERVIEW AND INTRODUCTION ........................................................... 5 DEDICATION, MISSION, AND VISION .......................................................................... 7 POPULATION AND GEOGRAPHY OF SAN DIEGO COUNTY ............................................ 9 DEATHS WE INVESTIGATE ....................................................................................... 11 HISTORY ................................................................................................................. 13 ORGANIZATIONAL CHART ........................................................................................ 15 MEDICAL EXAMINER FACILITY ................................................................................. 17 HOURS AND LOCATION ........................................................................................... 19 ACTIVITIES OF THE MEDICAL EXAMINER .............................................. 21 INVESTIGATIONS ..................................................................................................... 23 AUTOPSIES ............................................................................................................. 25 EXAMINATION ROOM ............................................................................................
    [Show full text]
  • Piercing the Veil: the Limits of Brain Death As a Legal Fiction
    University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform Volume 48 2015 Piercing the Veil: The Limits of Brain Death as a Legal Fiction Seema K. Shah Department of Bioethics, National Institutes of Health Follow this and additional works at: https://repository.law.umich.edu/mjlr Part of the Health Law and Policy Commons, and the Medical Jurisprudence Commons Recommended Citation Seema K. Shah, Piercing the Veil: The Limits of Brain Death as a Legal Fiction, 48 U. MICH. J. L. REFORM 301 (2015). Available at: https://repository.law.umich.edu/mjlr/vol48/iss2/1 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform at University of Michigan Law School Scholarship Repository. It has been accepted for inclusion in University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform by an authorized editor of University of Michigan Law School Scholarship Repository. For more information, please contact [email protected]. PIERCING THE VEIL: THE LIMITS OF BRAIN DEATH AS A LEGAL FICTION Seema K. Shah* Brain death is different from the traditional, biological conception of death. Al- though there is no possibility of a meaningful recovery, considerable scientific evidence shows that neurological and other functions persist in patients accurately diagnosed as brain dead. Elsewhere with others, I have argued that brain death should be understood as an unacknowledged status legal fiction. A legal fiction arises when the law treats something as true, though it is known to be false or not known to be true, for a particular legal purpose (like the fiction that corporations are persons).
    [Show full text]
  • Physician-Assisted Suicide and Voluntary Euthanasia: Some Relevant Differences John Deigh
    Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology Volume 88 Article 14 Issue 3 Spring Spring 1998 Physician-Assisted Suicide and Voluntary Euthanasia: Some Relevant Differences John Deigh Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarlycommons.law.northwestern.edu/jclc Part of the Criminal Law Commons, Criminology Commons, and the Criminology and Criminal Justice Commons Recommended Citation John Deigh, Physician-Assisted Suicide and Voluntary Euthanasia: Some Relevant Differences, 88 J. Crim. L. & Criminology 1155 (Spring 1998) This Criminal Law is brought to you for free and open access by Northwestern University School of Law Scholarly Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology by an authorized editor of Northwestern University School of Law Scholarly Commons. 0091-4169/98/8803-1155 THE JOURNAL OF CRIMINAL LAW& CRIMINOLOGY Vol. 88, No. 3 Copyright 0 1998 by Northwestern University, School of Law Prinfd in U.SA. PHYSICIAN-ASSISTED SUICIDE AND VOLUNTARY EUTHANASIA: SOME RELEVANT DIFFERENCES JOHN DEIGH" Yale Kamisar, in a series of influential articles on physician- assisted suicide and voluntary active euthanasia, has written elo- quently in opposition to legalizing these practices.1 Today he revisits the first of these articles, his seminal 1958 article, Some Non-Religious Views Against Proposed "Mercy-Killing"Legislation. 2 In that paper Professor Kamisar used the distinction between the law on the books and the law in action to quiet concerns about the harsh consequences of a blanket prohibition on mercy kill- ing. A blanket prohibition, after all, if strictly applied, would impose criminal punishment on physicians and relatives whose complicity in bringing about the death of a patient, or loved one was justified by the dying person's desperate condition and lucid wish to die.
    [Show full text]
  • The Constitutional Status of Morals Legislation
    Kentucky Law Journal Volume 98 | Issue 1 Article 2 2009 The onsC titutional Status of Morals Legislation John Lawrence Hill Indiana University-Indianapolis Follow this and additional works at: https://uknowledge.uky.edu/klj Part of the Constitutional Law Commons, and the Law and Society Commons Right click to open a feedback form in a new tab to let us know how this document benefits you. Recommended Citation Hill, John Lawrence (2009) "The onC stitutional Status of Morals Legislation," Kentucky Law Journal: Vol. 98 : Iss. 1 , Article 2. Available at: https://uknowledge.uky.edu/klj/vol98/iss1/2 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Law Journals at UKnowledge. It has been accepted for inclusion in Kentucky Law Journal by an authorized editor of UKnowledge. For more information, please contact [email protected]. TKenf]iky Law Jornal VOLUME 98 2009-2010 NUMBER I ARTICLES The Constitutional Status of Morals Legislation John Lawrence Hiff TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION I. MORALS LEGISLATION AND THE HARM PRINCIPLE A. Some Difficulties with the Concept of "MoralsLegislation" B. The Near Irrelevance of the PhilosophicDebate C. The Concept of "Harm" II. DEFINING THE SCOPE OF THE PRIVACY RIGHT IN THE CONTEXT OF MORALS LEGISLATION III. MORALS LEGISLATION AND THE PROBLEMS OF RATIONAL BASIS REVIEW A. The 'RationalRelation' Test in Context B. The Concept of a Legitimate State Interest IV. MORALITY AS A LEGITIMATE STATE INTEREST: FIVE TYPES OF MORAL PURPOSE A. The Secondary or IndirectPublic Effects of PrivateActivity B. Offensive Conduct C. Preventingthe Corruptionof Moral Character D. ProtectingEssential Values andSocial Institutions E.
    [Show full text]
  • DUKE UNIVERSITY School of Medicine Pathologists' Assistant
    DUKE UNIVERSITY School of Medicine Pathologists’ Assistant Program Department of Pathology Academic Programs The Department of Pathology at Duke University offers a wide array of training programs to fit individual requirements and goals. The Residency Training program is an ACGME approved program and is available as an Anatomic Pathology/Clinical Pathology combined program, a shorter Anatomic Pathology only program, or an Anatomic Pathology/Neuropathology program. Subspecialty fellowships in Cytopathology, Dermatopathology, Hematopathology, Medical Microbiology, and Neuropathology are also ACGME approved. These programs provide the highest quality of graduate medical education by drawing on the depth and breadth of faculty expertise in the Department in all aspects of anatomic and clinical pathology and the availability of a wide variety of often complex clinical cases seen at Duke University Health System. For medical students interested in a career in Pathology pre-doctoral fellowships, internships and externships are available. Research Training in Experimental pathology can be obtained through Pre- and postdoctoral fellowships of one to five years. All pre-doctoral fellows are candidates for the Ph.D. degree in pathology. The Ph.D. is optional in postdoctoral programs, which provide didactic and research training in various aspects of modern experimental pathology. A two year NAACLS accredited Pathologists’ Assistant Program leads to a Master of Health Science degree, certifies graduates to sit for the ASCP Board of Certification examination, and leads to exciting career opportunities in a variety of anatomic pathology laboratory settings. Pathologists’ assistants are analogous to physician assistants, but with highly specialized training in autopsy and surgical pathology. This profession was pioneered in the Duke Department of Pathology 50 years ago, and is one of only twelve such programs in existence today.
    [Show full text]
  • Attitude of Doctors Toward Euthanasia in Delhi, India
    Published online: 2019-04-05 Original Article AAttitudettitude ooff ddoctorsoctors ttowardoward eeuthanasiauthanasia iinn DDelhi,elhi, IIndiandia ABSTRACT Introduction: Deliberation over euthanasia has been enduring for an extended period of time. On one end, there are populaces talking for the sacrosanctity of life and on the other end, there are those, who promote individual independence. All over the world professionals from different areas have already spent mammoth period over the subject. A large number of cases around the world have explored the boundaries of current legal distinctions, drawn between legitimate and nonlegitimate instances of ending the life. The term euthanasia was derived from the Greek words “eu” and “thanatos” which means “good death” or “easy death.” It is also known as mercy killing. Euthanasia literally means putting a person to painless death especially in case of incurable suffering or when life becomes purposeless as a result of mental or physical handicap. Objective: To study the attitude of doctors toward euthanasia in Delhi. Methodology: It was a questionnaire based descriptive cross-sectional study carried out between July 2014 and December 2014. The study population included Doctors from 28 hospitals in Delhi both public and private. Equal numbers of doctors from four specialties were included in this study (50 oncologists, 50 hematologists, 50 psychiatrists, and 50 intensivists). Demographic questionnaire, as well as the Euthanasia Attitude Scale (EAS), a 30 items Likert-scale questionnaire developed by (Holloway, Hayslip and Murdock, 1995) was used to measure attitude toward Euthanasia. The scale uses both positively (16 items) and negatively (14 items) worded statements to control the effect of acquiescence.
    [Show full text]
  • In the Court of Appeals Second Appellate District of Texas at Fort Worth ______
    In the Court of Appeals Second Appellate District of Texas at Fort Worth ___________________________ No. 02-20-00002-CV ___________________________ T.L., A MINOR, AND MOTHER, T.L., ON HER BEHALF, Appellants V. COOK CHILDREN’S MEDICAL CENTER, Appellee On Appeal from the 48th District Court Tarrant County, Texas Trial Court No. 048-112330-19 Before Gabriel, Birdwell, and Wallach, JJ. Opinion by Justice Birdwell Dissenting Opinion by Justice Gabriel OPINION I. Introduction In 1975, the State Bar of Texas and the Baylor Law Review published a series of articles addressing the advisability of enacting legislation that would permit physicians to engage in “passive euthanasia”1 to assist terminally ill patients to their medically inevitable deaths.2 One of the articles, authored by an accomplished Austin pediatrician, significantly informed the reasoning of the Supreme Court of New Jersey in the seminal decision In re Quinlan, wherein that court recognized for the first time in this country a terminally ill patient’s constitutional liberty interest to voluntarily, through a surrogate decision maker, refuse life-sustaining treatment. 355 A.2d 647, 662–64, 668–69 (N.J. 1976) (quoting Karen Teel, M.D., The Physician’s Dilemma: A Doctor’s View: What the Law Should Be, 27 Baylor L. Rev. 6, 8–9 (Winter 1975)). After Quinlan, the advisability and acceptability of such voluntary passive euthanasia were “proposed, debated, and 1“Passive euthanasia is characteristically defined as the act of withholding or withdrawing life-sustaining treatment in order to allow the death of an individual.” Lori D. Pritchard Clark, RX: Dosage of Legislative Reform to Accommodate Legalized Physician- Assisted Suicide, 23 Cap.
    [Show full text]
  • NOW Is Time to Address Dementia
    The Human Right To A Death With Dignity Special Edition FEN responds in hour of crises VOL 19 • NO 2 SPRING 2020 NOW is time to address dementia Final Exit Network has created surrounding the explosion in a new Advance Directive designed Alzheimer’s and other forms of to prevent dying people from being dementia, because no state that offers force fed against their wishes – Medical Aid in Dying accommodates even if suffering from dementia. patients who are not “of sound mind” What’s more, FEN will go to court when it is time to receive assistance. in an effort to set a legal precedent Now there is a second, more ensuring that VSED (Voluntarily pressing crisis: COVID-19. The Stopping Eating and Drinking) is specter of a ventilator is now reality always available to those who sign for many of us who were already the Supplemental Advance Directive concerned about how we would die. for Dementia Care. FEN is stepping up in this time This document, and the drive to of dual crises, and this edition of the make it legally binding, has been magazine is keenly focused on on our agenda for some time. We what we all need to know. recognized the growing crisis – Brian Ruder, FEN President Life (and death) in the time of COVID-19 By Lowrey Brown words apply equally well when applied to laws FEN Client Services Director and social customs that would rob so many of The title is hardly original wordplay at the right to shape how their life stories end.
    [Show full text]
  • Thesis Final
    In Pursuit of a Good Death: Responding to Changing Sensibilities in the Context of the Right to Die Debate A thesis submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Juridical Studies at the University of Sydney VICTORIA HILEY The Faculty of Law University of Sydney January 2008 ABSTRACT This thesis challenges a number of claims that are made in the context of the euthanasia debate: that there is only one version of the good death; that rights discourse is the most appropriate vehicle by which to secure legal recognition of a right to die; that the Netherlands is either a model for reform or the epitome of a slippery slope in its regulation of euthanasia; and that a key argument in the euthanasia debate, the sanctity of life doctrine, is a fixed, immutable concept. In this thesis I use process sociology, developed by Norbert Elias, in order to capture changing sensibilities toward death and dying in the common law jurisdictions (Australia, England, the United States of America, Canada and New Zealand) and in the Netherlands. At the same time I analyse changing attitudes among key groups whose work impacts upon the euthanasia debate namely, parliamentarians, law reform bodies, the judiciary and medical associations. My aim in adopting this approach is threefold. First of all, to examine evolving attitudes to death and dying in order to determine whether the institutions of law and medicine are responding in an adequate manner to changing sensibilities in the common law countries and in the Netherlands. Secondly, to highlight shifting balances of power within the euthanasia debate.
    [Show full text]
  • The Court Upholds a State Law Prohibiting Physician-Assisted Suicide
    Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology Volume 88 Article 3 Issue 3 Spring Spring 1998 The ourC t Upholds A State Law Prohibiting Physician-Assisted Suicide Brett einbF erg Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarlycommons.law.northwestern.edu/jclc Part of the Criminal Law Commons, Criminology Commons, and the Criminology and Criminal Justice Commons Recommended Citation Brett einbeF rg, The ourC t Upholds A State Law Prohibiting Physician-Assisted Suicide, 88 J. Crim. L. & Criminology 847 (Spring 1998) This Supreme Court Review is brought to you for free and open access by Northwestern University School of Law Scholarly Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology by an authorized editor of Northwestern University School of Law Scholarly Commons. 0091-4169/98/8803-0847 THE JOURNAL OF CRIMINALLAW & CRIMINOLOGY Vol. 88, No. 3 Copyrght © 1998 by Northwestern University, School of Law Printed in U.S.A. THE COURT UPHOLDS A STATE LAW PROHIBITING PHYSICIAN-ASSISTED SUICIDE Vacco v. Quill, 117 S. Ct. 2293 (1997) I. INTRODUCTION In Vacco v. Quill,' the United States Supreme Court ad- dressed whether a terminally ill person has a constitutionally protected right to commit suicide with the assistance of a physi- cian.2 The Court held that state laws prohibiting physician- assisted suicide are constitutionally permissible since they do not violate the Equal Protection Clause.3 In making its decision, the Court determined that the right to die with assistance is not a fundamental right.4 The Court
    [Show full text]
  • The Right to Assisted Suicide and Euthanasia
    THE RIGHT TO ASSISTED SUICIDE AND EUTHANASIA NEIL M. GORSUCH* I. INTRODUCTION ........................................................ 600 I. THE COURTS ............................................................. 606 A. The Washington Due Process Litigation............ 606 1. The Trial Court ...................... 606 2. The Ninth Circuit Panel Decision ............. 608 3. The En Banc Court ...................................... 609 B. The New York Equal ProtectionLitigation ........ 611 1. The Trial Court ........................................... 611 2. The Second Circuit ..................................... 612 C. The Supreme Court............................................. 613 1. The Majority Opinion ................................. 614 2. The Concurrences ....................................... 616 D. The Consequences ofGlucksberg and Quill .... 619 III. ARGUMENTS FROM HISTORY ................................... 620 A. Which History?................................................... 620 B. The Ancients ....................................................... 623 C. Early Christian Thinkers .................................... 627 D. English Common Law ......................................... 630 E. ColonialAmerican Experience........................... 631 F. The Modern Consensus: Suicide ........................ 633 G. The Modern Consensus: Assisting Suicide and Euthanasia.......................................................... 636 IV. ARGUMENTS FROM FAIRNESS .................................. 641 A . Causation...........................................................
    [Show full text]
  • “Is Cryonics an Ethical Means of Life Extension?” Rebekah Cron University of Exeter 2014
    1 “Is Cryonics an Ethical Means of Life Extension?” Rebekah Cron University of Exeter 2014 2 “We all know we must die. But that, say the immortalists, is no longer true… Science has progressed so far that we are morally bound to seek solutions, just as we would be morally bound to prevent a real tsunami if we knew how” - Bryan Appleyard 1 “The moral argument for cryonics is that it's wrong to discontinue care of an unconscious person when they can still be rescued. This is why people who fall unconscious are taken to hospital by ambulance, why they will be maintained for weeks in intensive care if necessary, and why they will still be cared for even if they don't fully awaken after that. It is a moral imperative to care for unconscious people as long as there remains reasonable hope for recovery.” - ALCOR 2 “How many cryonicists does it take to screw in a light bulb? …None – they just sit in the dark and wait for the technology to improve” 3 - Sterling Blake 1 Appleyard 2008. Page 22-23 2 Alcor.org: ‘Frequently Asked Questions’ 2014 3 Blake 1996. Page 72 3 Introduction Biologists have known for some time that certain organisms can survive for sustained time periods in what is essentially a death"like state. The North American Wood Frog, for example, shuts down its entire body system in winter; its heart stops beating and its whole body is frozen, until summer returns; at which point it thaws and ‘comes back to life’ 4.
    [Show full text]