THERAPEUTIC DEATH: A Look at Oregon's Law

Oregon voters approved the first American statute authorizing physician-assisted suicide, the Oregon Death With Dignity Act, in 1994. The authors of this article identify some positive and negative psychological effects of laws such as Oregon's on patients. Generally, they conclude, on the basi...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Psychology, public policy, and law public policy, and law, 2000-06, Vol.6 (2), p.503-525
Main Author: Cerminara, Kathy L
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Assisted Suicide
Bioethics
Coercion
Euthanasia, Active, Voluntary - legislation & jurisprudence
Government Regulation
Human
Humans
Laws
Legislation, Medical
Oregon
Patients
Personal Autonomy
Physician-Patient Relations
Physicians
Risk Assessment
Social Change
Social Values
Suicide, Assisted - legislation & jurisprudence
Suicide, Assisted - psychology
Terminally Ill - psychology
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Summary:Oregon voters approved the first American statute authorizing physician-assisted suicide, the Oregon Death With Dignity Act, in 1994. The authors of this article identify some positive and negative psychological effects of laws such as Oregon's on patients. Generally, they conclude, on the basis of psychological theory and the available data, that laws such as Oregon's benefit patients psychologically. Undoubtedly, however, there exist important possible antitherapeutic effects on patients, and the authors hope that discussion of both therapeutic and antitherapeutic consequences will stimulate future research by social scientists in this area.
ISSN:1076-8971
1939-1528
DOI:10.1037/1076-8971.6.2.503