Physician-assisted dying : the case for palliative care and patient choice / edited by Timothy E. Quill and Margaret P. Battin.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

The quality of mercy / Marcia Angell -- Nonabandonment: a central obligation for physicians / Timothy E. Quill and Christine K. Cassel -- The role of autonomy in choosing physician aid-in-dying / Thomas Preston, Martin Gunderson, and David J. Mayo -- Disability and physician-assisted dying / Andrew I. Batavia -- When suffering patients seek death / Eric J. Cassell -- Why do people seek physician-assisted death? / Robert A. Pearlman and Helene Starks -- Doctor/patient communication about physician-assisted suicide / Anthony L. Back -- When hastened death is neither killing nor letting-die / Tom L. Beauchamp -- Should physician-assisted suicide be added to the options of voluntarily stopping eating and drinking and terminal sedation at the end of life? / Dan W. Brock -- Death: a friend to be welcomed, not an enemy to be defeated / John Shelby Spong -- The Oregon experience / Linda Ganzini -- The distortion of cases in oregon / Peter Goodwin -- A model that integrates assisted dying with excellent end-of-life care / Barbara Coombs-Lee -- Thirty years of experience with euthanasia in the Netherlands: focusing on the patient as a person / Johannes J.M. van Delden, Jaap J.F. Visser, and Els Borst-Eilers -- The death of my father / Herman H. van der Kloot Meijburg -- Assisted death in the Netherlands: physicians at the bedside when help is requested / Gerrit K. Kimsma and Evert van Leeuwen -- Political strategy and legal change / Eli D. Stutsman -- Legal advocacy to improve care and expand options at the end of life / Kathryn L. Tucker -- Physician-assisted suicide: shifting the focus from means to ends / Alan Meisel -- Choice in dying: a political and constitutional context / Sylvia A. Law -- Hastening death: the seven deadly sins of the status quo / Charles H. Baron -- Conclusion: excellent palliative care as the standard, and physician-assisted dying as a last resort / Timothy E. Quill and Margaret P. Battin.

In this volume, a distinguished group of physicians, ethicists, lawyers, and activists come together to present the case for the legalization of physician-assisted dying, for terminally ill patients who voluntarily request it. To counter the arguments and assumptions of those opposed to legalization of assisted suicide, the contributors examine ethical arguments concerning self-determination and the relief of suffering; analyze empirical data from Oregon and the Netherlands; describe their personal experiences as physicians, family members, and patients; assess the legal and ethical responsibilities of the physician; and discuss the role of pain, depression, faith, and dignity in this decision. Together, the essays in this volume present strong arguments for the ethical acceptance and legal recognition of the practice of physician-assisted dying as a last resort -- not as an alternative to excellent palliative care but as an important possibility for patients who seek it

eng.