Introduction:

• Hook: Everyone hopes for a peaceful end of life—but suffering through painful final moments proves inescapable for some, pushing them to consider a medically assisted quicker end.
• Define assisted suicide (“Assisted suicide”)
  • Other names, “Right to Die” and PAS.
  • 1 sentence differentiation between euthanasia
• Brief review of statistics: majority of people support it
  • Support rates increased linearly from late 1940s to 1990s. (Saad)
  • Approval rates move from overwhelmingly opposed to acceptance.
• Express major time points in shift (1970s), even though assisted suicide has always existed.
  • Focus on years and events between 1970s to present.
• Thesis: In Western culture, assisted suicide overcame public disapproval and entered into public acceptance because of an increase in patient autonomy, a fade in religious influence, and development of medical technology.

Review of Shift:

• Summarize the stories of a few people:
  • Derek and Jean Humphry (1975)
    • Cite from (Sinnet)
    • Hemlock Society
  • Timothy Quill gives Patricia Diane Trumbull a lethal dose of medicine
    • Cite from (Waldron)
    • Cite from his own book (Quill)
    • Heavy backlash received 2000+ letters of concern after.
  • Charlie and Francie Emerick
    • Cite from (Aleccia)
    • They both died together
    • Celebration aspect of dying.
  • These cases represent different levels of acceptance, reflected by statistics and legal cases.
    • Time line of cases (Childress)
      • Failure to pass in California 1992
      • Michigan explicitly bans it in 1993
      • Oregon is the first to legalize it in 1994
      • Washington State legalizes in 2008
      • Latest State is New Mexico in 2021 (Attanasio)

Analysis of Driving Forces:

• Doctor’s duties and patient autonomy
  • The SUPPORT paper (Connors)
    • Revealed an alarming disconnect between many doctors behavior and patients desires
    • Only 47% of doctors were aware of when their patient wanted to avoid CPR
• Religious Perspective (Grove)
  • Christianity:
    • Summarize the biblical passages that comment on the value and harm of life
    • Clarification by the Second Vatican Council’s Pastoral Constitution Gaudium et Spes
    • Explicit denouncement via Declaration on Euthanasia
  • Summary of other religions (Maybe 2-3 sentences): Islam, Buddhism, and commonalities concerning end of life treatment.
• Technological Medical Advancement
  • The Sarco suicide Pod goes viral (Hauser)
  • The Covid -19 pandemic reignited thoughts about the counterproductive pain that life-sustaining treatments, like ventilators provide.
    • Might delete this because it is more speculation.
    • Cite (Dreger)

Critique of Shift:

• Legal aspects
  • Due Process Clause:
    • Some argue that banning this process violate the due process clause because bans may rely on religious principles, something Justices Blackmun, Souter, O’Connor, and Stevens agree with
    • However, the Supreme Court case Washington v Gluckberg goes against this.
    • Cite (Rubin)
  • Suicide Contagion:
    • Concept based on David Phillips, who showed that high profile suicides are followed by higher rates of suicides in the public.
    • Is the increase of lethal prescriptions bad?
    • Cite (Dugdale)
  • Role of Doctors:
    • “Euthanasia is fundamentally incompatible with the physician’s role as healer, would be difficult or impossible to control, and would pose serious societal risks. Euthanasia could readily be extended to incompetent patients and other vulnerable populations.”
      • American Medical Association
    • Hippocratic oath implications
    • Cite: (“Should Euthanasia”)

Conclusion of Shift:

• Restate thesis.
• Current States legalization
• Outlook on life
• Meaning of medical care and doing good

Works Cited

Aleccia, Jonel. “This Couple Died by Assisted Suicide Together. Here’s Their Story.” Time, 6 Mar. 2018, time.com/5179977/assisted-suicide-couple-death.

“Assisted suicide” Legal Information Institute. Cornell Law School,  https://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/assisted_suicide. Accessed 19 October 2023.

Attanasio, Cedar. “New Mexico Latest State to Adopt Medically Assisted Suicide | AP News.”

AP News, Apr. 2021, apnews.com/article/legislature-michelle-lujan-grisham-legislation-assisted-suicide-new-mexico-62bfb8e52a96ba46c23f6ae35cabdb5a.

Childress, Sarah. “The Evolution of America’s Right-to-Die Movement.” PBS, Public Broadcasting Service, 13 Nov. 2012, www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/article/the-evolution-of-americas-right-to-die-movement/

Connors AF, Dawson NV, Desbiens NA, et al. A Controlled Trial to Improve Care for Seriously III Hospitalized Patients: The Study to Understand Prognoses and Preferences for Outcomes and Risks of Treatments (SUPPORT). JAMA. 1995;274(20):1591–1598. doi:10.1001/jama.1995.03530200027032

Dreger, Kathryn. “What You Should Know Before You Need a Ventilator.” The New York Times, The New York Times Company, 4 Apr. 2020, www.nytimes.com/2020/04/04/opinion/coronavirus-ventilators.html.

Dugdale LS, Lerner BH, Callahan D. “Pros and Cons of Physician Aid in Dying.” Yale J Biol Med. 2019 Dec 20;92(4):747-750. PMID: 31866790; PMCID: PMC6913818.

Grove, G., Lovell, M. & Best, M. Perspectives of Major World Religions regarding Euthanasia and Assisted Suicide: A Comparative Analysis. J Relig Health 61, 4758–4782 (2022). https://doi-org.ezaccess.libraries.psu.edu/10.1007/s10943-022-01498-5

Hauser, Christine. “A 3-D Printed Pod Inflames the Assisted Suicide Debate.” The New York Times, Dec. 2021, www.nytimes.com/2021/12/16/world/europe/suicide-pods-switzerland.html.

Quill, Timothy. “Death and Dignity: Making Choices and Taking Charge.” New York, W. W. Norton & Company, 1993. https://archive.org/details/deathdignitymaki0000quil/page/n5/mode/2up

Rubin, Edward. “Assisted Suicide, Morality, and Law: Why Prohibiting Assisted Suicide Violates the Establishment Clause.” Vanderbilt Law Review, vol. 63, no. 3, 2010, pp. 761-811. ProQuest, https://ezaccess.libraries.psu.edu/login?url=https://www.proquest.com/scholarly-journals/assisted-suicide-morality-law-why-prohibiting/docview/346157917/se-2.

Saad, By Lydia. “U.S. Support for Euthanasia Hinges on How It’s Described.” Gallup.com, 29

May 2013, news.gallup.com/poll/162815/support-euthanasia-hinges-described.aspx.

“Should Euthanasia or Physician-assisted Suicide Be Legal?” ProCon, 19 Oct. 2018, euthanasia.procon.org/top-10-pro-con-arguments. 

Sinnett, E. R., Rodney K. Goodyear, and Valarie Hannemann. “Voluntary Euthanasia and the Right to Die: A Dialogue with Derek Humphry.” Journal of Counseling and Development : JCD, vol. 67, no. 10, 1989, pp. 568. ProQuest, doi: https://doi.org/10.1002/j.1556-6676.1989.tb01331.x.

Terry, Peter. “Euthanasia and Assisted Suicide: Ethics and Politics.” Chest, Volume 103, Issue 4, 1993, Pages 1259-1263, https://doi.org/10.1378/chest.103.4.1259.

Waldron, Ann. “MAKING a GOOD END, SAYING GOODBYE.” Washington Post, 13 July 1993, www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/wellness/1993/07/13/making-a-good-end-saying-goodbye/eb4ae19f-fe52-497d-a707-a342baeea8be.