Abstract
This paper describes the contents of Oregon's Death with Dignity law, the pros and cons of the statutes, and the potential impact of the law on the American health system. The paper includes the chronology of the law and efforts to repeal it.

From the Paper
"Oregon's Death with Dignity Act passed into law via a voter referendum in legalized physician-assisted suicide in cases in which an individual diagnosed as terminally ill seeks assistance in terminating his or her ..."

Tags:physician assisted suicide, Oregon's Death with Dignity law

Abstract
The paper relates that the Oregon Death With Dignity Act was first passed by voters in 1994 ("Death", 2008, sec. 1-10), however, following lengthy legal battles intended to prevent the act from being used by patients and/or physicians in Oregon, the act was finally implemented in 1997 ("Death", 2008, sec. 1-10). The paper explains that the purpose of the Oregon Death With Dignity Act is to allow patients that are suffering from a terminal illness to elect to end their lives, and thereby end their suffering. The paper discusses how according to the State of Oregon, the Death With Dignity Act can be considered only by Oregon residents, with physicians that agree to participate in the act, which is optional for all health practitioners that are licensed as either an MD or OD. The paper explains that the act specifies that the individual, after proving proof of Oregon residency, must request to receive a prescription for a lethal does of medicine from a physician twice in a fifteen day period ("Death", 2008, sec. 1-10).

Tags:nursing, death, dignity

Abstract
In this paper, the writer makes use of the views of a doctor and of Socrates to demonstrate different views on death and dying. The writer examines the concept of a "good death" and death with dignity. The writer discusses how death with dignity currently refers more to medical science easing the pain of death, than to the Socratic idea.

From the Paper
"A great deal has been written in recent years about the concept of a good death or death with dignity. Sherwin B. Nuland stated that an entire mythology has grown up around the process of dying. Like most mythologies, it is based on the inborn psychological need that all humankind shares. The mythologies of death are meant to combat fear on the one hand and its opposite wishes on the other. It will be argued in this report that death with dignity is now understood ... "

Tags:death, dying, philosophy, Plato, Socrates

Abstract
This paper discusses the only successful legalization of physician-assisted suicide in the U.S.A., the Oregon law called the Death with Dignity Act, passed in 1994 by a voter referendum and hung up in court for three years before another voter referendum to repeal the law was defeated in November 1997, and it became legal. The author explains that personal experiences with dying family members led her to believe that terminally-ill patients should have the right to die as they wish, and physicians should have an important role in that decision. The paper relates that the public's support for assisted suicide or physician-assisted suicide has increased over the past 50 years; today 72% of the population supports this issue.

Table of Contents
Introduction
Overview of the Law
Supporting Arguments
Conclusion

From the Paper
"The law also requires the prescribing physician to report all requests for medication to the Oregon Department of Human Services. In addition, in 1999, the Oregon Legislature added a requirement that pharmacists must be informed of the prescribed medication's ultimate use. Physicians and patients that follow the above requirements are protected from criminal prosecution under the law. In addition, choosing physician-assisted suicide will not affect the status of a patient's health or life insurance policies. There is no obligation for physicians and health care systems to participate in the law."

Tags:terminal, pharmacist, family, support, public

Abstract
This paper details recent legislation on assisted suicide known as the Oregon Death with Dignity Act. David Gil's Policy Analysis Framework is used to analyze the new law. According to Gil's analysis, the "objective" of Oregon's Death with Dignity Act is to settle the dispute as to what the desires of an incapacitated person really are. The author concludes that as a result of the enactment of this law, the number of physician-assisted suicides will continue to grow, and disability supporters will protest and try to bring awareness to the general public.

From the Paper
"The danger of defining "terminal" with time limits or definitions of illness is that these limits may be defined differently by different doctors. In the Netherlands "terminal" is simply "concrete expectancy of death" and time limits and definitions of "terminal illness" have been fastidiously avoided, to protect both the ill and their physicians when a terminal illness or mental state cannot be judged within these limits. Patients may suffer long past the six months that the doctor assumes is remaining for the patient. (Marker, 2006) In Oregon, the legal interpretation of "terminal disease" is "an incurable and irreversible disease that has been medically confirmed and will, within reasonable medical judgment, produce death within six months." [1995 c.3 s.1.01; 1999 c.423 s.1] (Definitions, 12)"

Tags:assisted, suicide, euthansia, terminal, illness

Abstract
This paper argues for a repeal of Oregon's Death with Dignity Act which permits doctors to prescribe lethal doses of drugs to patients who choose to hasten their own death. The paper discusses the role of personal values in the desire to repeal the law.

From the Paper
"The law I would like to repeal is Oregon's Death with Dignity Act which gives physicians the right to assist terminally ill patients who choose to end their own life. Since the law was passed, many Oregon patients have used the law to hasten their own deaths. Former Attorney General John Ashcroft challenged the law, threatening to prosecute physicians who prescribed lethal doses of medication to patients, but the U.S. Supreme Court..."

Tags:Hippocratic Oath, God, Christianity, religion, afterlife, pain, suffering, society

Abstract
This paper discusses Oregon's "right to die" legislation - its Death with Dignity Act. The paper discusses the strain on health care in the United States and then argues that allowing a patient to die of his/her own volition is a better use of health care facilities than taking heroic measures to prolong life, regardless how painful, demeaning or without purpose.

From the Paper
"Lost in the debate about Oregon's "right to die" legislation is that the State of Oregon also embarked on a thorough analysis of healthcare rationing. The state disallowed a number of categories of medical treatment, and cut back on a number of other such methods, in order to free up resources to focus on the sicker patients. The overall goal was to support procedures and the use of resources in such a way that healthcare was enhanced. The right-to-die legislation was part and parcel of this overall effort. Those backing the legislation in the State understood that heroic expenditures at the end of life were not only futile, but they diverted scarce resources from other areas where the patients could be better-helped."

Tags:euthanasia, resources, intervention

Abstract
The paper reviews the controversy over a terminally ill patient's desire to die with dignity instead of waiting to suffer a lengthy and slow process.

Abstract
This paper relates that some of the issues regarding physician-assisted suicide are the evolution of rights, ethics and "the slippery slope" argument. The author points out that the issue of physician-assisted suicide has rapidly moved from being a secret, marginal matter to a real topic of discussion for most people in the United States. The paper contends that the issue of physician-assisted suicide is related to the availability of end-of-life palliative care.

Table of Contents:
Literature Review
Dr. Jack Kevorkian
The Federal Government and States Treat Physician-Assisted Suicide in the Courts
Doctors Speak Their Mind on Physician-Assisted Suicide
Scope of the Problem
A Question of Healthcare
Do The Terminally Ill Really Want Physician-Assisted Suicide?
Breakdown of Policy
Legislative Counsel Committee of the Oregon Legislative Assembly
How the Act Was Brought Into Being
Subsequent Progression to Present Day

From the Paper
"In 1997, the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously upheld decisions in New York and Washington State that affected assisted suicide and made it illegal. They overturned rulings in the 2nd and 9th Circuit Courts of Appeal striking down state statutes banning physician-assisted suicide. Those statutes, which prohibited doctors from prescribing lethal medication to competent, terminally ill adults, were found to violate the 14th Amendment. In striking the appellate decisions, the U.S. Supreme Court basically declared that no constitutional "right to die" existed, but individual states might enact legislation permitting or prohibiting physician-assisted suicide."

Tags:palliative, court, secret, control, results

Abstract
The Oregon Death with Dignity Act is a voter-approved initiative to allow for physician-assisted suicide under certain clearly defined circumstances and following specific procedures. This paper looks at the history of the law and the legal cases leading up to the passing of the law. Thereafter, the paper looks at the pros and cons of the law, reactions to the law by different interest groups and the law in reality.

From the Paper
"The first challenge to the law caused a federal judge to rule that Oregon's assisted suicide law was unconstitutional because it unfairly discriminates against the dying. The court stated, "There is little assurance that only competent terminally ill persons will voluntarily die. Some 'good results' cannot outweigh other lives lost due to unconstitutional errors and abuses" ("Oregon Assisted Suicide Law Revoked" 18). Then, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals rejected this lawsuit and ordered a lower court judge to throw out the suit against the 1994 law, stating that those bringing the suit could not show that they faced an imminent threat of harm and so had standing to bring the suit. This is the decision the Supreme Court then refused to hear. However, the U.S. Congress then considered a way around the law through the Assisted Suicide Funding Restriction Act of 1997, Senate bill 304, which included a provision that would ban the use of federal funds "to cause, or to assist in causing, the suicide, euthanasia or mercy killing of any individual" (Kalmeyer 3835)."

Tags:terminally, ill, DDA, Karen, Ann, Quinlan