Looking for a “Good Death”: The Elderly Terminally Ill’s Right to Die by Physician-Assisted Suicide
Katherine A. Chamberlain, 17 Elder L.J. 61 (2009)
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An unforeseen consequence of the relatively recent advancement of medicine is that individuals with terminal illnesses are able to extend their lives beyond what was possible only a few years ago. However, this extension sometimes brings with it significant physical pain and decreased quality of life for the patient, raising the question of what rights a mentally competent, terminally ill patient has in terminating her life. Currently, courts permit such individuals to refuse life-sustaining treatment, but prohibit doctors from actively assisting individuals in ending their lives absent a state statute legalizing such activities. This Note argues that physician-assisted suicide should be permitted under the same rationales used to justify an individual’s right to refuse life-sustaining treatment and that the right to physician-assisted suicide in the case of terminally ill patients is a constitutionally protected right. Because the end result of refusing life-sustaining treatment and physician-assisted suicide is the same–the death of the terminally ill patient–there is no substantive basis for distinguishing between the two.
