Physician-Assisted Suicide

Reflecting common law precedents, state laws in America have generally reflected intolerance for all forms of physician-assisted suicide. California voters subsequently rejected a similar proposition the following year, whereas in 1994 Oregon voters approved Measure 16 by a narrow margin. This measure allowed for physician-assisted suicide, on condition that physicians only could provide drugs for this purpose, but patients must be able to administer the dose. The US Supreme Court has heard two companion cases on the issue of physician-assisted suicide-Washington v. Glucksberg 521 US 702, and Vacco v. Quill, 521 US 793. The first case addressed a Washington state law that prohibited aiding a suicide. The Court again upheld the constitutionality of a pertinent law, in this case a New York law stating that a person who intentionally caused or aided another person to attempt or commit suicide was guilty of a felony.