Pro to the question "Should euthanasia or physician-assisted suicide be legal?"
Reasoning:
"Denying physician-assisted suicide as an option to terminally ill patients means enforced suffering for many patients... Whether through common-law development in the courts or by legislative action, it is time to move on to the next stage in making laws that show greater respect for patient autonomy and increased compassion for the plight of the terminally ill."
"Hastening Death: The Seven Deadly Sins of the Status Quo," Physician-Assisted Dying: The Case for Palliative Care and Patient Choice, 2004
Experts
MDs, JDs (Lawyers), PhDs and Religious Leaders with significant involvement in end-of-life issues. [Because end-of-life dilemmas require medical, ethical, legal, and in some case religious considerations, we view MDs, PhDs with a bio-ethical focus, and JDs/religious leaders with significant involvement as "experts" in the euthanasia debate.] [Note: Experts definition varies by site.]
Involvement and Affiliations:
Professor of Law, Boston College Law School
Presented testimony to the United Kingdom Parliament’s House of Lords regarding pending legislation being considered by the Lords’ Select Committee on the Assisted Dying for the Terminally Ill Bill, London, England, September, 2004
Past President, Civil Liberties Union of Massachusetts
Appointed to the Scientific Committee of the European Centre for Life Sciences, Health, and the Courts, Collegio Ghislieri, University of Pavia, Italy, November 2004
"Not DEA'd Yet: Gonzalez v. Oregon," the Hastings Center Report, Mar.-Apr., 2006
“Normativity and Biomedicine in the United States of America,” International Journal of Bioethics, 2004
"Hastening Death: The Seven Deadly Sins of the Status Quo," Physician-Assisted Dying: The Case for Palliative Care & Patient Choice, 2004
“Life and Death Decision-Making, Judges v. Legislators as Sources of Law in Bioethics,” Science, Law and the Courts in Europe, 2004
"Nutrition and Hydration in PVS Individuals: the Cruzan, Bland and Englaro Cases," Notizie di Politeia: Rivista di Etica e Scelte Pubbliche, 2002
"Baker v. State and the Promise of the New Judicial Federalism," Boston College Law Review, December 2001
"Competency and Common Law: Why and How Decision-Making Capacity Criteria Should Be Drawn From the Capacity-Determination Process," Psychology, Public Policy and Law, June 2000
