Assisted suicide debated in the United States
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《加拿大医疗协会学报》
When the US Supreme Court upheld Oregon's controversial assisted suicide law in January, it rekindled other states' efforts to pass similar legislation.
With a 6–3 decision, the court ruled that the US attorney general can't punish doctors who abide by Oregon's law, which specifies under what circumstances assisted suicide can be pursued.
The ruling set off reaction on both sides of the issue.
"We are disappointed at the decision," White House spokesman Scott McClellan said. "The President remains fully committed to ... valuing life at all stages."
Barbara Coombs Lee, co-CEO and president of Compassion & Choices, the US's largest choice-in-dying advocacy group, said: "This is a watershed decision for freedom and democracy in the US. It reaffirms the liberty, dignity and privacy Americans cherish at the end of life. No government should threaten these rights nor usurp a state's power to meet the needs of its dying citizens."
Since 1994, when Oregon voters authorized legally assisted suicide, about 200 terminally ill patients have opted to end their lives with a doctor's help.
Oregon's law requires 2 doctors to consult and agree that the patient would otherwise die of natural causes within 6 months. The patient must also be considered of sound mind, and be able to self-administer the lethal dose of medicine.
In Canada, assisted suicide made headlines again in January when Marielle Houle, 60, of Montreal, pleaded guilty to helping her 36-year-old son, Charles Fariala, commit suicide when he could no longer bear the effects of multiple sclerosis.
Houle was given 3 years' probation, but the light sentence is not to be viewed as a model for other cases, stated Quebec Superior Court Justice Maurice Laramée. Rather it was a compassionate ruling in light of Houle's physical, psychological and emotional frailty. "Ms. Houle's actions remain very reprehensive and unlawful," he stated.
Although federal law in Canada forbids physicians from assisting patients to end their own lives, no such sweeping legislation exists in the US.
Currently, 44 states have laws outlawing physician-assisted suicide, and Virginia deems it a civil offense. Three states have no statute that either permits or prohibits assisted suicide. Ohio's Supreme Court decriminalized it but state regulations still forbid it. Voter initiatives to pass assisted suicide legislation have failed in Michigan, Hawaii, Maine and the state of Washington.
The spotlight is now on California, where a bill similar to Oregon's law was introduced in January. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger believes citizens should vote on the issue, but the bill's sponsors say lawmakers and the governor are elected to make these tough decisions in a reasoned and thoughtful debate.
In 1992 California voters defeated a physician-assisted suicide ballot 54% to 45%. In a poll last year, 70% of Californians surveyed were in favour of doctors being allowed to help terminally ill patients die.
The California Compassionate Choices Act is expected to be discussed in March in the Senate Judiciary Committee. The issue is particularly sensitive this year because many governors and lawmakers are up for re-election in November, including in California.
Also fuelling the debate is the legacy of Terri Schiavo, the comatose Florida woman caught in a power struggle between family, the courts and state and federal officials.
A growing and vocal disabled-rights community banned together against the "Death with Dignity" movement in 1996 after Jack Kevorkian was acquitted of helping 2 non-terminal disabled patients die. That's also when many state legislatures passed laws criminalizing the act.(Patricia Guthrie)
With a 6–3 decision, the court ruled that the US attorney general can't punish doctors who abide by Oregon's law, which specifies under what circumstances assisted suicide can be pursued.
The ruling set off reaction on both sides of the issue.
"We are disappointed at the decision," White House spokesman Scott McClellan said. "The President remains fully committed to ... valuing life at all stages."
Barbara Coombs Lee, co-CEO and president of Compassion & Choices, the US's largest choice-in-dying advocacy group, said: "This is a watershed decision for freedom and democracy in the US. It reaffirms the liberty, dignity and privacy Americans cherish at the end of life. No government should threaten these rights nor usurp a state's power to meet the needs of its dying citizens."
Since 1994, when Oregon voters authorized legally assisted suicide, about 200 terminally ill patients have opted to end their lives with a doctor's help.
Oregon's law requires 2 doctors to consult and agree that the patient would otherwise die of natural causes within 6 months. The patient must also be considered of sound mind, and be able to self-administer the lethal dose of medicine.
In Canada, assisted suicide made headlines again in January when Marielle Houle, 60, of Montreal, pleaded guilty to helping her 36-year-old son, Charles Fariala, commit suicide when he could no longer bear the effects of multiple sclerosis.
Houle was given 3 years' probation, but the light sentence is not to be viewed as a model for other cases, stated Quebec Superior Court Justice Maurice Laramée. Rather it was a compassionate ruling in light of Houle's physical, psychological and emotional frailty. "Ms. Houle's actions remain very reprehensive and unlawful," he stated.
Although federal law in Canada forbids physicians from assisting patients to end their own lives, no such sweeping legislation exists in the US.
Currently, 44 states have laws outlawing physician-assisted suicide, and Virginia deems it a civil offense. Three states have no statute that either permits or prohibits assisted suicide. Ohio's Supreme Court decriminalized it but state regulations still forbid it. Voter initiatives to pass assisted suicide legislation have failed in Michigan, Hawaii, Maine and the state of Washington.
The spotlight is now on California, where a bill similar to Oregon's law was introduced in January. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger believes citizens should vote on the issue, but the bill's sponsors say lawmakers and the governor are elected to make these tough decisions in a reasoned and thoughtful debate.
In 1992 California voters defeated a physician-assisted suicide ballot 54% to 45%. In a poll last year, 70% of Californians surveyed were in favour of doctors being allowed to help terminally ill patients die.
The California Compassionate Choices Act is expected to be discussed in March in the Senate Judiciary Committee. The issue is particularly sensitive this year because many governors and lawmakers are up for re-election in November, including in California.
Also fuelling the debate is the legacy of Terri Schiavo, the comatose Florida woman caught in a power struggle between family, the courts and state and federal officials.
A growing and vocal disabled-rights community banned together against the "Death with Dignity" movement in 1996 after Jack Kevorkian was acquitted of helping 2 non-terminal disabled patients die. That's also when many state legislatures passed laws criminalizing the act.(Patricia Guthrie)