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The California End of Life Option Act was signed into law by Governor Jerry Brown on October 5, 2015, with Brown taking the unusual step of releasing a personal statement in which he indicated his dilemma regarding the consideration of the ethical issues involved and that he felt unable to deny the right of choice to others. [2] [12]
End-of-life care (EOLC) is health care provided in the time leading up to a person's death.End-of-life care can be provided in the hours, days, or months before a person dies and encompasses care and support for a person's mental and emotional needs, physical comfort, spiritual needs, and practical tasks.
Rather than participating in assisted suicide, physicians should provide palliative care to minimize patient suffering. These are recommendations for physicians from the Code of Medical Ethics Opinion 5.7 [66] regarding end of life care: Should not abandon a patient once it is determined that a cure is impossible. Must respect patient autonomy.
Debates about the ethics of euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide date from ancient Greece and Rome. After the development of ether, physicians began advocating the use of anesthetics to relieve the pain of death. In 1870, Samuel Williams first proposed using anesthetics and morphine to intentionally end a patient's life.
The Quinlans filed a suit on September 12, 1975, to request the extraordinary means prolonging Karen Ann Quinlan's life to be terminated. The Quinlans' lawyers argued that the parents’ right to make a private decision about their daughter's fate superseded the state's right to keep her alive, and her court-appointed guardian argued that ...
Wishes 1 and 2 are both legal documents. Once signed, they meet the legal requirements for an advance directive in the states listed below.Wishes 3, 4, and 5 are unique to Five Wishes, in that they address matters of comfort care, spirituality, forgiveness, and final wishes.
Since the first incorporation of these guidelines to the AMA Code of Medical Ethics, the council has deferred to Opinion 2.20 to address inquiries involving surrogate decision making, even though the guidelines presented in this Opinion refer only to decisions made near the end of life.
The British House of Lords select committee on medical ethics defines euthanasia as "a deliberate intervention undertaken with the express intention of ending a life to relieve intractable suffering". [3] In the Netherlands and Belgium, euthanasia is understood as "termination of life by a doctor at the request of a patient". [4]