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The Failure Of The Freedom-Based And Utlilitarian Arguments For Assisted Suicide, Scott T. Fitzgibbon
The Failure Of The Freedom-Based And Utlilitarian Arguments For Assisted Suicide, Scott T. Fitzgibbon
Scott T. FitzGibbon
In recent years, numerous initiatives have been launched to promote physician-assisted suicide. Numerous statutes have been proposed, and one (in Oregon) has been enacted. The United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit and the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit were recently persuaded to recognize constitutionally protected rights to assisted suicide, although their decisions have been reversed by the Supreme Court. An international organization called the World Federation of Right-to-Die Societies furthers such efforts in other countries. The two most common justifications for such initiatives are that assisted suicide enhances freedom or liberty, and that …
The Model Physician-Assisted Suicide Act And Jurisprudence Of Death, Scott T. Fitzgibbon, Kwan Kew Lai
The Model Physician-Assisted Suicide Act And Jurisprudence Of Death, Scott T. Fitzgibbon, Kwan Kew Lai
Scott T. FitzGibbon
Your State has, let us suppose, a physician in one of its university-affiliated hospitals who is an admirer of Dr. Kevorkian, or a member of the Hemlock Society. The date is a year from now-December 1997. Your State has adopted the Model State Act to Authorize and Regulate Physician-Assisted Suicide (the "Act"). You now have an unexpected interest in the effects of the Act. A friend or a relative-your eighteen-year-old daughter or your nineteen-year-old younger brother or your fifty-five-year-old father--has approached a hospital seeking counseling and relief. Concerned about the sort of advice your loved one may receive, and concerned …