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A Model State Act to Authorize and Regulate Physician-Assisted Suicide
Charles H. Baron, Boston College Law School
Clyde Bergstresser, Bergstresser & Associates, Boston
Dan W. Brock, Brown University
Garrick F. Cole, Smith, Duggan and Johnson, Boston
Nancy S. Dorfman, Greater Boston Hemlock Society
Judith A. Johnson, New England Medical Center Hospitals, Inc.
Lowell E. Schnipper, Beth Israel Hospital
James Vorenberg, Harvard Law School
Sidney H. Wanzer, Harvard Law School Health Services
Printed version appears in Harvard Journal on Legislation 33 (Winter 1996): 1-34.
ABSTRACT:
Despite laws in many states prohibiting assisted suicide, an unknown but significant number of people each year commit suicide with the aid of a physician. In recent years, the phenomenon of physician-assisted suicide has attracted greater attention as physicians have openly risked prosecution to shed light on the subject, advocates have raised a series of legal challenges to laws banning assisted suicide, and a federal judge has struck down the nation's first statute allowing physicians to assist patients in suicide.
In this Article, nine authors from the fields of law, medicine, philosophy and economics propose a comprehensive statute to permit and regulate physician-assisted suicide for patients suffering from terminal illnesses or unbearable pain. The proposed statute provides a specific series of procedural requirements designed to prevent mistaken decisions and affords limited legal protection to physicians who follow its requirements.
SUGGESTED CITATION:
Charles H. Baron, Clyde Bergstresser, Dan W. Brock, Garrick F. Cole, Nancy S. Dorfman, Judith A. Johnson, Lowell E. Schnipper, James Vorenberg, and Sidney H. Wanzer,
"A Model State Act to Authorize and Regulate Physician-Assisted Suicide"
(December 1, 1996).
Boston College Law School.
Boston College Law School Faculty Papers.
Paper 12.
http://lsr.nellco.org/bc/bclsfp/papers/12
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