ABSTRACT
This chapter explores whether the elderly are a special case with respect to aid-in-dying. The theories do, however, give us good reason for insisting on strong safeguards before Physician Assisted Suicide (PAS) is contemplated by any patient, including assessments of competence, examination for depression, and full understanding of the medical situation and the available options for palliative care. The American Bar Association's Commission on the Legal Problems of the Elderly, for example, has voiced considerable concern about the impact on vulnerable populations should physician-assisted suicide (PAS) become more widely accepted, legally or morally. Advocates of the availability of PAS defend it as an important aspect of patient autonomy at the end of life. In the recent PAS litigation before the United States Supreme Court, moreover, the Society recommended reversal of the Ninth and the Second Circuit decisions, arguing that PAS should not be constitutionalized but should be left to reasoned public debate and policy-making at the state level.
