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Hiv Disease: Criminal And Civil Liability For Assisted Suicide, Ann Grace Mccoy
Hiv Disease: Criminal And Civil Liability For Assisted Suicide, Ann Grace Mccoy
Golden Gate University Law Review
This article first traces the evolution of attitudes and subsequent laws regarding suicide and assisted suicide. Secondly, the criminal and civil liability of assisted suicide is assessed on the basis of California case law. Lastly, this paper will discuss the applicability of the defenses of the right of privacy and the right of autonomy to acts of suicide and assisted suicide. This discussion will focus on the right of a person with HIV disease to enlist the assistance of the medical profession to make his or her death as quick and as painless as possible, a practice which under the …
Elizabeth Bouvia V. Riverside Hospital: Suicide, Euthanasia, Murder: The Line Blurs, Belinda Stradley
Elizabeth Bouvia V. Riverside Hospital: Suicide, Euthanasia, Murder: The Line Blurs, Belinda Stradley
Golden Gate University Law Review
In November 1983, the California Superior Court was presented with a question of first impression. In a case which attracted considerable media attention, Elizabeth Bouvia v. Riverside Hospital, the court was asked to decide whether it should authorize the state to assist a physically disabled person to commit suicide. This question arose after Elizabeth Bouvia, who is physically disabled, arranged for voluntary psychiatric admission to Riverside Hospital. She subsequently disclosed her intent to stop eating, and thereby die by starvation. She requested that hospital staff provide her with pain medication and hygienic care until she died. She stated that she …