Killing and Allowing to Die: Another Look

Washington v. Glucksberg, 117 S. Ct. 2258 (1997); and Vacco v. Quill, 117 S. Ct. 2293 (1997).

Quill v. Vacco, 80 F.3d. 716 (2d Cir. 1996).

Dworkin R. , “Assisted Suicide: The Philosopher's Brief,” New York Review of Books, Mar. 27, 1997, at 41–47.

See, for example, Rachels J. , The End of Life: Euthanasia and Morality (New York: Oxford University Press, 1986); Brock D. , “Voluntary Active Euthanasia,” Hastings Center Report, 22, no. 2 (1992): 10–22; Kuhse H. , The Sanctity of Life Principle in Medicine: A Critique (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1987); Brody H. , “Assisted Death—A Compassionate Response to Medical Failure,” N. Engl. J. Med., 327 (1992): 1384–88; Lowey E.H. , “Healing and Killing, Harming and Not Harming,” Journal of Clinical Ethics, 3 (1992): 29–34; and Meier D. , “Physician-Assisted Dying: Theory and Reality,” Journal of Clinical Ethics, 3 (1992): 35–37.

See Brock , supra note 4, at 12.

See, for example, Quill T.E. Dresser R. Brock D.W. , “The Rule of Double Effect—A Critique of Its Role in End-of-Life Decision Making,” N. Engl. J. Med., 337 (1997): 1768–71; Quill T.E. Lo B. Brock D.W. , “Palliative Options of Last Resort: A Comparison of Voluntarily Stopping Eating and Drinking, Terminal Sedation, Physician-Assisted Suicide, and Voluntary Active Euthanasia,” JAMA, 278 (1997): 2099–104; Orentlicher D. , “The Supreme Court and Physician-Assisted Suicide: Rejecting Assisted Suicide but Embracing Euthanasia,” N. Engl. J. Med., 337 (1997): 1236–40; and Lee M.A. , “Legalizing Physician-Assisted Suicide—Views of Physicians in Oregon,” N. Engl. J. Med., 334 (1996): 310–15.

See Cohen J.S. , “Attitudes Towards Assisted Suicide and Euthanasia Among Physicians in Washington State,” N. Engl. J. Med., 331 (1994): 89–94; Shapiro R.S. , “Willingness to Perform Euthanasia: A Survey of Physician Attitudes,” Archives of Internal Medicine, 154 (1994): 575–84; and Bachman J.G. , “Attitudes of Michigan Physicians and the Public Toward Legalized Physician-Assisted Suicide and Voluntary Euthanasia,” N. Engl. J. Med., 334 (1996): 303–09.

See Hippocrates , “The Hippocratic Oath: Text, Translation, and Interpretation,” in Temkin O. Temkin C.L. , eds., and Edelstein L. , trans., Ancient Medicine: Selected Papers of Ludwig Edelstein (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1967): 3–63.

See Hippocrates , “The Art,” in Jones W.H.S. , trans., Hippocrates II (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1972): 193.

See Waxman S. , “The Dutch Way of Death,” Washington Post, Jan. 31, 1995, at B1, B3.

See van der Maas P.J. , “Euthanasia and Other Medical Decisions Concerning the End of Life,” Lancet, 338 (1991): 669–74.

See van der Maas P.J. , “Euthanasia, Physician-Assisted Suicide, and Other Medical Practices Involving the End of Life in the Netherlands: 1990–1995,” N. Engl. J. Med., 335 (1996): 1699–705.

See “Departing Prosecutor Charges Dr. Kevorkian in 10 Deaths,” American Medical News, Nov. 18, 1996, at 71.

See Gianelli D. , “Euthanasia Measures Fail, But Backers Vow Renewed Push,” American Medical News, Nov. 20/30, 1992, at 42–43.

See Eagan T. , “In Oregon, Opening a New Front in the World of Medicine,” New York Times, Nov. 6, 1997, at A26.

Lee v. Oregon, No. 95-35804, 1997 WL 80783 (9th Cir. Feb. 27, 1997).

See Steinbock B. Norcross A. , eds., Killing and Letting Die (New York: Fordham University Press, 2nd ed., 1994); and Sulmasy D.P. , Killing and Allowing to Die (1995) Ph.D. dissertation, Georgetown University (on file with UMI Dissertation Services No. 9608827).

Beauchamp T.L. , “Introduction,” in Intending Death: The Ethics of Assisted Suicide and Euthanasia (Upper Saddle River: Prentice Hall, 1996): At 7.

Rachels , supra note 4, at 112.

See Brock , supra note 4.

See Gaylin W. , “Doctors Must Not Kill,” JAMA, 259 (1988): 2139–40.

See Beauchamp , supra note 18, at 7.

See Bennett J. , “Whatever the Consequences,” Analysis, 26 (1966): 83–102.

See id.

Some suggest that the patient in physician-assisted suicide is acting in self-defense, but this is a specious argument. In claiming self-defense, one is justified in killing another person only if that person threatens one's existence. Cancer or AIDS may be threats to my existence, and I am justified in defending my existence against these illnesses. But it is at best awkward to claim that I can justify killing myself because I am a threat to myself.

See Sapira J.D. , The Art and Science of Bedside Diagnosis (Baltimore: Urban and Schwartzenberg, 1990): At 130.

See Sulmasy D.P. , “Managed Care and Managed Death,” Archives of Internal Medicine, 155 (1995): 133–36.

See, for example, Quill T.E. , “The Ambiguity of Clinical Intentions,” N. Engl. J. Med., 329 (1993): 1039–40; and Brody H. , “Causing, Intending, and Assisting Death,” Journal of Clinical Ethics, 4 (1993): 112–17.

See, for example, Donagan A. , Choice: The Essential Element in Human Action (London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1989): At 40–41, 51; Brand M. , Intending and Acting (Cambridge: MIT Press, 1984): At 94–97, 122–26; Bratman M. , Intention, Plans, and Practical Reason (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1987): At 1–22, 37, 60, 141; Searle J. , Intentionally: An Essay in the Philosophy of Mind (New York: Cambridge University Press, 1983): At 7–10, 35–36, 103–05; and Gustafsen D. , Intention and Agency (Dordrecht: D. Reidel, 1986): At 44, 68.

See Bratman , id. at 4–5, 110.

See Steinbock B. , “The Intentional Termination of Life,” in Steinbock Norcross , supra note 17, at 120–30.

See Gert B. Bernat J.L. Mogielnicki R.P. , “Distinguishing Between Patients' Refusals and Requests,” Hastings Center Report, 24, no. 4 (1994): 13–15.

See Kaveny M.C. , “Assisted Suicide, Euthanasia, and the Law,” Theological Studies, 58 (1997): 124–48.

See Dworkin , supra note 3; and Quill Dresser Brock , supra note 6.

This was the view of Peter Abelard, but few others have based their evaluation of the morality of actions solely on intentions.

See Callahan D. , “When Self-Determination Runs Amok,” Hastings Center Report, 22, no. 2 (1992): 52–55.

See Sulmasy D.P. , “Death and Human Dignity,” Linacre Quarterly, 61 (Dec. 1994): 27–36.

Kant I. , “The Metaphysics of Morals, Part II: The Metaphysical Principles of Virtue,” in Ellington J.W. , trans., Kant: Ethical Philosophy (Indianapolis: Hackett, 1983): At 127, Ak 462.

See Singer P.A. Siegler M. , “Euthanasia: A Critique,” N. Engl. J. Med., 322 (1990): 1881–83.

See Lonergan B.J.F. , “Common Sense as Intellectual,” in Insight: A Study of Human Understanding (San Francisco: Harper and Row, 1958): 173–81.