A Model State Act to Authorize and Regulate Physician-Assisted Suicide

Charles Baron, Clyde Bergstresser, Dan Brock, Garrick Cole, Nancy Dorfman, Judith Johnson, Lowell Schnipper, James Vorenberg and Sidney Wanzer
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Charles Baron: Boston College Law School
Clyde Bergstresser: Bergstresser & Associates, Boston
Dan Brock: Brown University
Garrick Cole: Smith, Duggan and Johnson, Boston
Nancy Dorfman: Greater Boston Hemlock Society
Judith Johnson: New England Medical Center Hospitals, Inc.
Lowell Schnipper: Beth Israel Hospital
James Vorenberg: Harvard Law School
Sidney Wanzer: Harvard Law School Health Services

Boston College Law School Faculty Papers from Boston College Law School

Abstract: Despite laws in many states prohibiting assisted suicide, an unknown but significant number of people each year commit suicide with the aid of a physician. In recent years, the phenomenon of physician-assisted suicide has attracted greater attention as physicians have openly risked prosecution to shed light on the subject, advocates have raised a series of legal challenges to laws banning assisted suicide, and a federal judge has struck down the nation's first statute allowing physicians to assist patients in suicide. In this Article, nine authors from the fields of law, medicine, philosophy and economics propose a comprehensive statute to permit and regulate physician-assisted suicide for patients suffering from terminal illnesses or unbearable pain. The proposed statute provides a specific series of procedural requirements designed to prevent mistaken decisions and affords limited legal protection to physicians who follow its requirements.

Keywords: physician-assisted suicide; end-of-life medical treatment; model statute (search for similar items in EconPapers)
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