Physician-hastened death. Advisory guidelines for the San Francisco Bay area from the Bay Area Network of Ethics Committees.

1997; National Institutes of Health; Volume: 166; Issue: 6 Linguagem: Inglês

Autores

Steve Heilig, Robert Brody, F S Marcus, L Shavelson, P C Sussman,

Tópico(s)

Palliative Care and End-of-Life Issues

Resumo

Recent high court opinions and pending Supreme Court rulings on the legality of physician-hastened death necessitate a pragmatic response from the medical profession. Adopting a "harm reduction" perspective on this contentious topic, the Bay Area Network of Ethics Committees developed practice guidelines for responding to a patient request for hastened death. The guidelines will be offered to the local medical community for use by individuals and health care institutions if the practice of physician-hastened death becomes legal. A multidisciplinary consensus process was used in developing the guidelines, which address clinical, ethical, and procedural concerns.

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