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Assisted Suicide PDF

120 Pages·2008·47.906 MB·English
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A s s is t e d S u ic id e by Lauri S. Friedman A c >nvenient research and learning tool including At a Glance section gives succinct topic summaries. Objective overviews provide background and context. Primary Source Quotes sections highlight conflicting opinions. Facts and Illustrations sections offer visual insight. Key People and Advocacy Groups and Related Organizations sections assist in further study. Source Notes model appropriate citation forms. Current Issues A s s is te d S u ic id e Lauri S. Friedman Current Issues eferencePoint ess" San Diego, CA gferencePoint About the Author Lauri S. Friedman earned her bachelor's degree in religion and political science from Vassar College in 1999. Her studies there focused on political Islam, and she produced a thesis on the Islamic Revolution in Iran titled Neither West, Nor East, but Islam. She also holds a preparatory degree in flute performance from the Manhattan School of Music. Friedman is the founder of LSF Editorial, a writing and editing outfit in San Diego. Her clients include ReferencePoint Press, for whom she has written The Death Penalty, Nuclear Weapons and Security, Terrorist Attacks, Abortion, and Islam, all in the Compact Research series. Friedman lives in Ocean Beach, San Diego, with her husband, Randy, and their yellow lab,Trucker. In her spare time she enjoys spending time with family and friends, cooking, making music, taking Trucker to the beach, traveling, and planning her next writing project. © 2009 ReferencePoint Press, Inc. For more information, contact: ReferencePoint Press, Inc. PO Box 27779 San Diego, CA 92198 www.ReferencePointPress.com ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. No part of this work covered by the copyright hereon may be reproduced or used in any form or by any means—graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping, Web distribution, or information storage retrieval systems—without the written permission of the publisher. Picture credits: Maury Aaseng: 32-35,51 -52,54,70-73,88-91 AP Images: 15 Photoshot: 12 LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOGING-IN-PUBLICATION DATA Friedman, Lauri S. Assisted suicide / by Lauri S. Friedman. p. cm. — (Compact research) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN-13:978-1 -60152-048-7 (hardback) ISBN-10:1 -60152-048-4 (hardback) 1. Assisted suicide—Popular works. I.Title. R726.F725 2008 179.7—dc22 2008039089 Contents Foreword 4 Assisted Suicide at a Glance 6 Overview 8 Is Assited Suicide Moral? 18 Primary Source Quotes 26 Facts and Illustrations 31 Should Assisted Suicide Be Legal? 36 Primary Source Quotes 45 Facts and Illustrations 50 Does Assisted Suicide Threaten Vulnerable People? 55 Primary Source Quotes 64 Facts and Illustrations 69 What Are the Alternatives to Assisted Suicide? 74 primary Source Quotes 82 Facts and Illustrations 87 Key People and Advocacy Groups 92 Chronology 94 Related Organizations 96 For Further Research 101 Source Notes 106 List of Illustrations 109 Index 110 Foreword 44 Where is the knowledge we have lost in information? 59 —T.S. Eliot, “The Rock.” A s modern civilization continues to evolve, its ability to create, store, distribute, and access information expands exponentially. The explo­ sion of information from all media continues to increase at a phenom­ enal rate. By 2020 some experts predict the worldwide information base will double every 73 days. While access to diverse sources of information and perspectives is paramount to any democratic society, information alone cannot help people gain knowledge and understanding. Information must be organized and presented clearly and succinctly in order to be understood. The challenge in the digital age becomes not the creation of information, but how best to sort, organize, enhance, and present information. ReferencePoint Press developed the Compact Research series with this d r challenge of the information age in mind. More than any other subject o w e area today, researching current issues can yield vast, diverse, and unquali­ r o fied information that can be intimidating and overwhelming for even the F most advanced and motivated researcher. The Compact Research series offers a compact, relevant, intelligent, and conveniently organized col­ lection of information covering a variety of current topics ranging from illegal immigration and methamphetamine to diseases such as anorexia and meningitis. The series focuses on three types of information: objective single­ author narratives, opinion-based primary source quotations, and facts 4 Foreword and statistics. The clearly written objective narratives provide context and reliable background information. Primary source quotes are care­ fully selected and cited, exposing the reader to differing points of view. And facts and statistics sections aid the reader in evaluating perspectives. Presenting these key types of information creates a richer, more balanced learning experience. For better understanding and convenience, the series enhances infor­ mation by organizing it into narrower topics and adding design features that make it easy for a reader to identify desired content. For example, in Compact Research: Illegal Immigration, a chapter covering the economic impact of illegal immigration has an objective narrative explaining the various ways the economy is impacted, a balanced section of numerous primary source quotes on the topic, followed by facts and full-color il­ lustrations to encourage evaluation of contrasting perspectives. The ancient Roman philosopher Lucius Annaeus Seneca wrote, “It is quality rather than quantity that matters.” More than just a collection of content, the Compact Research series is simply committed to creating, finding, organizing, and presenting the most relevant and appropriate amount of information on a current topic in a user-friendly style that invites, intrigues, and fosters understanding. % 5 \ Assisted Suicide at a Glance Legalized Assisted Suicide Physician-assisted (PAS) suicide is explicitly legal in just four places in the world—Oregon, Washington, the Netherlands, and Switzerland. Prohibited Assisted Suicide Around the World Physician-assisted suicide is explicitly illegal in Canada, Hungary, Italy, New Zealand, Norway, Russia, and the United Kingdom. Prohibited Assisted Suicide in the United States Physician-assisted suicide is explicitly illegal in seven states—Iowa, Louisiana, Maryland, Michigan, Rhode Island, South Carolina, and Virginia. Many others have defeated ballot initiatives that proposed to legalize the practice. e c n Number of Assisted Suicides in Oregon a Gl Since 1997, 341 people have used Oregon’s Death with Dignity Act to die. a at Assisted Suicide Rate e Less than 1 percent of all deaths in Oregon—about 0.15 percent— d ci occur as a result of physician-assisted suicide. The rate is about the same ui S in Switzerland—0.2 percent—and in the Netherlands—0.1 percent. d e t s Age of Those Who Use Assisted Suicide si s A The median age of people who have elected assisted suicide in Oregon is 69. Race of Those Who Use Assisted Suicide In Oregon 97.4 percent of people who have died by assisted suicide have been white. 6

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