Chap. 1 History of euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide: philosophical, religious, and clinical contexts -- Chap. 2 Legal status of euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide -- Chap. 3 Do not resuscitate orders, living wills, and surrogate decision making -- Chap. 4 Research issues in assisted suicide and euthanasia: methods and opportunities for future research -- Chap. 5 Influence of depression and psychosocial factors on physician-assisted suicide -- Chap. 6 The role of pain and other physical symptoms in the desire for hastened death -- Chap. 7 End-of-life decision making -- Chap. 8 Lessons learned from the Netherlands -- Chap. 9 The Oregon experiment -- Chap. 10 Where do we go from here?
Summary
As the 20th century drew to a close, a relatively new legal issue emerged in American courtrooms and dining rooms: Do individuals have a legal right to determine how and when they die? Questions regarding the ethics, legality issues and the morality of end-of-life issues such as physician-assisted suicide and euthanasia brought these questions squarely into the forefront of public and political debate. Although numerous journal articles, books, and newspaper editorials have been written about such issues, few have attempted to integrate this rapidly growing literature into a coherent overview of the legal and scientific issues involved. This book attempts to fill this void, providing a comprehensive review of scientific research, case law, and social history to inform the future research and policy decisions that will inevitably arise. Thus, the goals are to summarize, interpret, and elaborate on a growing scientific literature devoted to understanding assisted suicide and related end-of-life decisions. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2005 APA, all rights reserved)
Bibliography
Includes bibliographical references (pages 177-190) and index