Term Papers on The Case For Euthanasia: Should Physician-Assisted Suicide Be Legalized?

Term Paper Title	The Case For Euthanasia: Should Physician-Assisted Suicide Be Legalized?
# of Words	1467
# of Pages (250 words per page double spaced)	5.87

The Case for Euthanasia: Should Physician-Assisted Suicide be Legalized?

Throughout
the twentieth century, major scientific and medical advances have greatly enhanced the life
expectancy of the average person. However, there are many instances where doctors can
preserve life artificially. In these cases where the patient suffers from a terminal disease or
remains in a "persistent vegetative state" or PVS from which they cannot voice their
wishes for continuation or termination of life, the question becomes whether or not the
patient has the freedom to choose whether or not to prolong their life even though it may
consist of pain and suffering. In answer to this question, proponents of physician-assisted
suicide, most notably, Dr. Jack Kevorkian, are of the opinion that not only should patients
be able to abstain from treatment, but if they have a terminal and/or extremely painful
condition, they should be able to seek out the assistance of a doctor in order to expedite
their death with as little pain as possible. Contained herein are the arguments for and
against the legalization of doctor-assisted suicide, as well as where the state courts stand
in respect to this most delicate of issues. In the hopes of clarification, we must first
distinguish between active and passive euthanasia. Passive euthanasia involves the patient's
refusal of medical assistance. It involves the right to die which is protected by the United
States Constitution clauses of due process liberty and the right to privacy (Fourteenth
Amendment). The right to doctor-assisted suicide, or active euthanasia, consists of, "...a
patient's right to authorize a physician to perform an act that intentionally results in the
patient's death, without the physician's being held civilly or criminally liable for having
caused the death" . The "passive" form of euthanasia was first deemed legal by the New
Jersey State Supreme Court in 1976 In re Quinlan . In the Quinlan case, the court allowed
a competent patient to terminate the use of life-sustaining medical machines to prolong
life. Since New Jersey's decision, all fifty states have enacted similar statutes which contain
living will provisions. However, although the United States Supreme Court upheld the
Quinlan decision in re Cruzan , it changed the parameters of passive euthanasia . With the
Cruzan decision, the Supreme Court held that passive euthanasia was legal but only for
competent adults or those who are incompetent but have previously procured a living will.
However, if the patient is without a living will and incompetent, it becomes the burden of
the family to prove that there is "clear and convincing evidence" to the affect that the
patient does not want to continue living in a vegetative state. As to active euthanasia,
there has been no Supreme Court ruling determining whether the right to die, as
understood in passive euthanasia cases, can be bound over to active euthanasia. The
decision is thus left to the individual states. Currently, thirty-one states have criminalized
explicitly the act of assisted suicide . Physician-assisted suicide is generally recognized as
illegal under the parameters of homicide, however it is very difficult to meet all of the
elements of the crime and conviction subsequently becomes nearly impossible. The fact
that the U.S. Supreme Court has not reviewed a physician-assisted suicide case, which
would create precedent, constitutes a dilemma for the state courts in that there is no
uniform test or ruling by which to decide. Most states have developed their own laws to,
more often than not, make doctor-assisted suicide illegal. However, when a case comes to
trial it is usually dismissed either by the judge in a pretrial motion or by the jury. For
example, in at least three of the assisted suicides which Dr. Kevorkian was involved in, all
criminal charges were dismissed. So, the laws have been created, but when it comes to
convicting a doctor and sending him to prison, in lieu of the circumstances, the law often
breaks down and t...

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