advance directives, 83-85
Pain Relief Promotion Act (proposed), 73-74
Roman Catholic ethics, 14
Palliative care. See Hospice care
Parents. See Family
Partnership for Caring, Inc., 28, 57
Patient Self-Determination Act, 89-90, 99
Patients
autonomy, 17-18
best interests, 105
characteristics of patients requesting and receiving physician-assisted death, 19t
desire to know about illness and participate in decision-making, 18
euthanasia or physician-assisted suicide, attitudes toward and experiences with, 19t, 69t, 70-71
Patient Self-Determination Act, 89-90, 99
physicians' response to patient request for aid in dying, 18-20, 20t
right to refuse treatment, 103-104
SUPPORT end-of-life care survey, 21-22, 25-26
Persistent vegetative state (PVS)
brain death and, 9-10
chances of recovery, 30-31
characteristics, 29t
criteria for, 29-30
Cruzan, Nancy, 109-111
determining, 107
nursing home care, 125
Quinlan, Karen Ann, 101-102
treatment, 31-32, 31t, 32t
Physician-assisted suicide
American College of Physicians-American Society of Internal Medicine (ACP-ASIM), 78
court cases, 111-113
Death with Dignity Act (Oregon), 70t, 73-75, 156
Doerflinger, Richard M., 78
euthanasia/physician-assisted suicide distinction, 58-59
Hendin, Herbert, 69-70
Kevorkian, Jack, 72-73
mental suffering as reason for, 77
Netherlands, 70t, 75-78
New York State Task Force on Life and the Law, 78
opposition to, 65-67, 69-70, 75
patient attitudes and experiences, 69t, 70-71
patient characteristics, 19t
physicians' attitudes toward, 67t-68t, 70
physicians' response to patient request for aid in dying, 18-20, 20t
President's Commission for the Study of Ethical Problems in Medicine and Biomedical and Behavioral Research, 78
public opinion, 154-155, 156f
Quill, Timothy, 68-70
reasons for requests, 71
United States, 78
withdrawal of life-sustaining treatment, as distinct from, 113
See also Euthanasia
"Physician-Assisted Suicide" (American College of Physicians-American Society of Internal Medicine), 78
Physicians
advance directives, communication concerning, 81-82
curing vs. caring approach to health care, 20
Death with Dignity Act, attitudes towards, 74-75
ethical guidelines, 17
euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide, attitudes toward, 67t-68t, 70
geriatricians, 144-147
Hippocratic Oath, 16-17
liability for terminating life support, 105
persistent vegetative state patients, treatment of, 31, 31t, 32
persistent vegetative state patients, withdrawal of life-sustaining treatment for, 32, 32t
SUPPORT end-of-life care survey, 21-22, 25-26
See also Medical education; Physician-assisted suicide
Plagues, 2
Population, 135, 149t
Postma, Geertruida, 75-76
Power of attorney for health care, 85-86, 91t-98t
Pregnancy restriction in living will statutes, 81f
Premature burial, 2, 3f
Premature infants, 47-48, 49t-50t
President's Commission for the Study of Ethical Problems in Medicine and Biomedical and Behavioral Research determining death, 8-9
physician-assisted suicide, 78
Prevailing medical standards and practices, 102
Principle of double effect, 13-14
Privacy, right to, 101-102
Projections, population, 135, 136t
Prolonging life vs. hastening death, 15
Protestantism, 14
Proxies
durable powers of attorney for health care, 86
state statutes, 86, 88f, 90f
Public opinion
afterlife, 151, 152f
concerns about death, 151-153
longevity, 153-154
physician-assisted suicide, 156
suicide, 154, 154t, 155f
teens' self-assessed likelihood of dying from particular causes, 153(f11.5)
teens' time spent thinking about death, 153(f11.4)
Pure-objective test for removing life-sustaining treatment, 105
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