Research Exercise

Euthanasia and Physician-Assisted Suicide





         The word euthanasia means "gentle and easy death". In practice euthanasia is the deliberate ending of someone's life for compassionate reasons.  Physician-assisted suicide is a method of euthanasia, one where the physician brings about the death of patient.  J.S. Russell, a philosopher at Cornell, separates active euthanasia into two categories: (1) the physician clearly kills patient (e.g. by personally administering lethal injection.), and (2) the physician provides necessary means for patient to kill herself (e.g. prescribes lethal dose of pills with intention that they will be used to end patient's life).  The common element is that the physician plays a necessary and active causal role in deliberately bringing about patient's death.  The issue of physician-assisted suicide is a gnarled one, certainly not without debate. 

To fully understand physicians assisting their patients end their lives begs for some appreciation of the history of medicine and medical practice, and how legal traditions, common law, ethics, religion and philosophy, and public policy continue to "frame" opinion.  The purpose of the project is for you to obtain a better understanding of people's attitudes toward physician-assisted suicide and the differing opinions surrounding the issue.  Do most people want the option?  Do physicians feel comfortable assisting their patients die voluntarily?  If euthanasia is made legal, will there be undue pressure [from physicians, from health care insurers] on patients to consent?  Do physicians in fact make the decision, because patients will tend to follow their advice?  Would permitting euthanasia mean that pain relief and better ways of treating illnesses would be ignored? 

What do Americans think about euthanasia?  Click here to read about some of the opinions that Michael C. Kearl of Trinity Univesity has charted, or here for a brief report from the BBC News about UK and USA opinions.  Your objective is to assess what Americans think about physician-assisted suicide.  In your 4-5 page analysis, review the information you gleen from the time you spend reading (on the web) editorials in the popular press, reading physicians' discussions in professional journals, listening to commentary NPR programming, or reading first-hand testimonies.  What were two or three of the predominant themes did the sources examined?  Was the emphasis consistent with overall public sentiment?  Was the information supportive of physician-assisted suicide?  Why, or why not?

Choose one of the assignments below. 

  • Nexis/Lexis research: Read at least a dozen newspaper articles/editorials on the issue using the Nexis/Lexis database in the library.  Letters to the editorial, feature stories, and editorials are all potential sources for commentary.  When resources point to different interpretations of the issue, it is important to discuss how you will interpret this disparity.  You could limit your focus to one or two source (e.g., news stories on CNN) or remain open to multiple sources.  Or, you can read a commentaries or editorials in the dominant medical journals (e.g., New England Journal of Medicine, JAMA) by using either PubMed or the Health Reference Center within the electronic resouce, Expanded Academic ASAP.
  • NPR's Talk of the Nation.  Listen to one or more of the National Public Radio audio programs that discuss some of the issues involved in euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide.
    • Our Parents' Keepers.   Host: Ray Suarez. Guests: Donna Cohen, Professor and Chairman, Dept. of Aging & Mental Health, Univ. of South Florida, Co-author, Caring for Your Aging Parents (Tarcher/Putnam, 1995); Joan Gruber, Certified financial planner specializing in the "mature market," Author, Your Money: It's a Family Affair (Odenwald Press, 1996); Lisa Gwyther, Director, Family Support Program, Education director, Joseph & Kathleen Bryan Alzheimer's Disease Research Center at Duke University.  Description: They took care of YOU for about 18 years -- now the tables are turning. Caring for aging parents is becoming a defining life issue for many Americans. In addition to the medical, legal and financial issues, the shift in balance of the parent-child relationship creates an emotional hurdle. Join Ray Suarez and guests for a look at the complex issues adult-children face when we become our parents' keepers...on the next Talk of the Nation, from NPR News. 
    • Physician-Assisted Suicide Debate. Host: Ray Suarez. Guests: Dr. Ira Bylock, Director, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation National Program to improve end of life care, Director, Palliative Care Service, Missoula, Montana, Research Professor, Dept of Philosophy, University of Montana; Professor Margaret Battin, Department of Philosophy, University of Utah. Date: March 10, 1997.
    • Physician-Assisted Suicide. Host: Ray Suarez. Guest: Dr. Herbert Hendin, Author of Seduced by Death: Doctors, Patients, and the Dutch Cure (Norton, 1996) Executive Director of the American Suicide Foundation, Professor of Psychiatry, New York Medical College. Date: January 8, 1997.
  • All Things Considered.  Review the All Things Considered web site and listen to several of the audio programs, as you read the transcripts.  In conjunction with the All Things Considered series on "The End of Life: Explaining Death in America," NPR has developed a web site devoted to this topic.  The transcripts of the programs and the audio programs are available on the site.  There is also an excellent supporting biliography and a selection of readings as well as a list of resources relating to end of life issues. 
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