FREE NEJM E-TOC    HOME   |   SUBSCRIBE   |   CURRENT ISSUE   |   PAST ISSUES   |   COLLECTIONS   |   Search Term  Advanced Search

Sign in | Get NEJM's E-Mail Table of Contents — Free | Subscribe

Previous Volume 335:663-667 August 29, 1996 Number 9 Next

	Since this article has no abstract, we have provided an extract of the first 100 words of the full text and any section headings.

	Full Text Purchase this article Letters Add to Personal Archive Add to Citation Manager Notify a Friend E-mail When Cited PubMed Citation

With the enactment of an Oregon statute permitting physician-assisted suicide,^1,2 the recognition of a constitutional right to assisted suicide by two U.S. courts of appeals,^3,4 discussed elsewhere in this issue of the Journal,⁵ and the acquittals of Dr. Jack Kevorkian,^6,7 there appears to be a dramatic shift in right-to-die law. Although the law previously distinguished between the withdrawal of life-sustaining treatment and assisted suicide, these recent events suggest that the distinction is being abandoned and that the law is undergoing a profound change.

I will argue here that this interpretation is mistaken. Instead of a shift in the law, these . . . [Full Text of this Article]

Arguments for the Distinction between Assisted Suicide and the Withdrawal of Treatment

The Real Basis for the Legal Distinction

Why the Law is Changing

Address reprint requests to Dr. David Orentlicher at the Center for Law and Health, Indiana University School of Law–Indianapolis, 735 W. New York St., Indianapolis, IN 46202-5194.

References

Related Letters:

Physician-Assisted Suicide
Sembrot W. B., Corboy J. R., Swanson H. J., Gates T. J., Girsh F., Leff A. S., Kopp V. J., Preston T. A., Orentlicher D., Annas G. J.
Extract | Full Text  
N Engl J Med 1997; 336:439-441, Feb 6, 1997. Correspondence

This article has been cited by other articles:

• Lo, B., Rubenfeld, G. (2005). Palliative Sedation in Dying Patients: "We Turn to It When Everything Else Hasn't Worked". JAMA 294: 1810-1816 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
• Werth, J. L. Jr (2005). Concerns About Decisions Related to Withholding/ Withdrawing Life-Sustaining Treatment and Futility for Persons With Disabilities. Journal of Disability Policy Studies 16: 31-37 [Abstract]  
• Cohen, L. M., Dobscha, S. K., Hails, K. C., Pekow, P. S., Chochinov, H. M. (2002). Depression and Suicidal Ideation in Patients Who Discontinue the Life-Support Treatment of Dialysis. Psychosom. Med. 64: 889-896 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
• Bascom, P. B., Tolle, S. W. (2002). Responding to Requests for Physician-Assisted Suicide: "These Are Uncharted Waters for Both of Us. . . .". JAMA 288: 91-98 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
• Cohen, L. M., Steinberg, M. D., Hails, K. C., Dobscha, S. K., Fischel, S. V. (2000). Psychiatric Evaluation of Death-Hastening Requests: Lessons From Dialysis Discontinuation. Psychosomatics 41: 195-203 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
• Cohen, L. M. (1998). Suicide, Hastening Death, and Psychiatry. Arch Intern Med 158: 1973-1976 [Full Text]  
• Orentlicher, D. (1997). The Supreme Court and Physician-Assisted Suicide -- Rejecting Assisted Suicide but Embracing Euthanasia. NEJM 337: 1236-1239 [Full Text]  
• Burke, W. J., Seaton, S. M., Earnest, F., Golomb, M., McHugh, P. R., King, S. A., Wood, F. C., Hug, G., Potter, H. P., Tilson, M. D., Angell, M. (1997). Physician-Assisted Suicide -- The Ultimate Right?. NEJM 336: 1524-1526 [Full Text]  
• Sembrot, W. B., Corboy, J. R., Swanson, H. J., Gates, T. J., Girsh, F., Leff, A. S., Kopp, V. J., Preston, T. A., Orentlicher, D., Annas, G. J. (1997). Physician-Assisted Suicide. NEJM 336: 439-441 [Full Text]  
• Foley, K. M. (1997). Competent Care for the Dying Instead of Physician-Assisted Suicide. NEJM 336: 53-58 [Full Text]  
• Lipman, T. O. (1996). Ethics and Nutrition Support. Nutr Clin Pract 11: 241-242