Chapter 7: Euthanasia and Physician-Assisted Death
Sources for Case Presentation: Brittany Maynard and Physician-Assisted Death include
Deborah Kotz, “Brittany Maynard’s Dilemma: Choosing the Right Time to Die,” Boston Globe, October 31,
2014; Lindsey Bever, “Cancer Patient Brittany Maynard, 29, Has Scheduled Her Death for Nov. 1,” The
Washington Post, October 8, 2014; Deepa Bharath, “Dying with Dignity? Terminally Ill UC Irvine Grad
Brittany Maynard Has Picked a Day to Die,” The Orange County Register, October 15, 2014; Brittany
Maynard, “My Right to Death with Dignity,” CNN, November 2, 2014; Diane E. Meier et al., “A National
Survey of Physician-Assisted Suicide and Euthanasia in the United States,” The New England Journal of
Medicine 338, no. 17 (1998): 1193–1201; Diane E. Meier et al., “Characteristics of Patients Requesting and
Receiving Physician-Assisted Death,” Arch. Intern. Med. 163, no. 13 (2003): 1537–1542; Ezekiel J.
Emanuel, “Whose Right to Die?” The Atlantic, March 1997; Not Dead Yet website; Ira Byock, “Doctor–
For further background information, also see: Kant Patel, “Euthanasia and Physician-Assisted
Suicide Policy in the Netherlands and Oregon: A Comparative Study,” Journal of Health and Social Policy,
19 (2004): 43, 49; James L. Wirth, Jr. and Howard Wineberg, “A Critical Analysis of Criticisms of the
Oregon Death with Dignity Act,” Death Studies, 29 (2005): 6 (Table 1). Statistics on the effect of the
Washington state law come from William Yardley, “At Least 36 Died in Washington State in 2009 under
Social Context: When the Diagnosis is Death is based on “Report of the Ad Hoc Committee of
the Harvard Medical School to Examine the Definition of Brain Death,” JAMA 205, no. 6 (1968): 337–340
doi:10.1001/jama.1968.03140320031009. Also see: On defining death, see Stuart J. Youngner, Robert M.
Case Presentation: Karen Quinlan is based on Phyllis Battelle, “The Story of Karen Quinlan,”
Ladies’ Home Journal 93 (September 1976): 69–76, 172–180; B. D. Colen, Karen Ann Quinlan: Dying in
the Age of Eternal Life (New York: Nash, 1976); and In the Matter of Karen Quinlan: The Complete Legal
Briefs, Court Proceedings, and Decisions (Arlington, VA.: University Publications of America, 1975). On the
death of Joseph Quinlan, see Robert Hanley’s obituary in The New York Times, December 11, 1996.
Case Presentation: Jack Kevorkian—Moral Leader or Doctor Death? draws material from
“Doctor Death,” Time, May 31, 1993; and the following New York Times articles: David Margolick, “Jurors
The timeline in Case Presentation: Terri Schiavo is from Daniel Eisenberg, “Lessons of the
Schiavo Battle,” Time, April 4, 2005. Additional information is from the following New York Times articles:
Abby Goodnough, “Schiavo Dies, Ending Bitter Case Over Feeding Tube,” April 1, 2005 and “Schiavo
Autopsy Says Brain Withered, Was Untreatable,” June 15, 2005; Rick Lyman, “Protesters With Hearts on
Sleeves and Anger on Signs,” March 17, 2005; Abby Goodnough and Adam Liptak, “Courts Say No:
Governor Bush in Schiavo Case,” March 23, 2005; Abby Goodnough, “Judge Declines to Order Feeding in
Schiavo Case,” March 23, 2005; Abby Goodnough, “U.S. Court Begins Consideration of Schiavo Case,”
March 22, 2005; Carl Hulse and David Kirkpartick, “Moving Quickly, Senate Approves Schiavo Measure,”
The Chapter 7 Briefing Session draws on Philip Pullella and Alex Dobuzinskis, “Vatican Official
Condemns Maynard Assisted Suicide Case in U.S.,” Reuters, November 4, 2014; Art Swift, “Brittany
Maynard’s Story and Americans’ Views on Assisted Suicide,” Gallup, November 5, 2014; Leslie Kane,
“Medscape Ethics Report 2014, Part 1: Life, Death, and Pain,” Medscape, December 16, 2014; Lindsey
