The Right to Die

Paper Summary:

The paper summarizes the Terri Schiavo case and explains William Colby's argument, as presented in his work "Unplugged: Reclaiming Our Right to Die in America", that the law should respect an individual's inherent right to die if the health circumstances are too severe. The paper then asserts that the Federal Justice Department did not have the right to prevent Oregon from allowing patient-assisted suicides. The paper also looks at the "Cruzan v. Director, Missouri Dept. of Health" landmark case that allowed persons the right to deny life-saving medical assistance. The paper is of the opinion that the chapter "My Living Will" of Colby's book is the most intriquiging, since it describes the personal and legal foundation for denying life support systems.

From the Paper:

"The Terri Schiavo case represents a critical turning point for a patient's right to die, which helped to determine a legal framework under a caregiver's consent to terminate life support systems. With the Governor of Florida and the President of the United States creating legislation to prevent the death of Schiavo, the inherent right to life or death to a patient was denied after the lower court of Pinellas County decided that Schiavo would not want to live in a persistent vegetative state. However, the Supreme Courts of the United States and Florida decided correctly that the long-term state of Schiavo's suffering and lack of revival determined that her caregivers had a right to take away her feeding tube. This was the correct choice due to the fact that her long-term placement within hospital care had decidedly taken a course that would be deemed unconscionable to keep supporting Schiavo's lack of utility (to interact with other people) and to prevent a decent quality of life. The higher courts decided that her caregivers had the right to decide on Schiavo's assisted death due to the nature of her condition and the unethical medical authority that let her continue in such a condition."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Colby, William H. Unplugged: Reclaiming Our right to Die in America. New York: American Management Association, 2006.

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