Physician-Assisted Suicide: The Supreme Court's Wary Rejection

Abstract

Although the Supreme Court's separate opinions in two physician-assisted suicide cases failed to speak with a decisive voice on some issues, the Court unanimously agreed that no constitutional right to physician-assisted suicide exists. Most of the opinions also agreed on the need to provide adequate pain relief, including if necessary terminal sedation. Whether to decriminalize and regulate physician assisted suicide has been left to the states.

Keywords: Killing, Letting Die, Fourteenth Amendment, Physician-Assisted Suicide, Terminal Illness, Palliative Care, Netherlands, Quill, Glucksberg, Terminal Sedation