"For every complex problem, there is a solution that is simple, neat, and wrong." - HL Mencken
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"The good physician treats the disease; the great physician treats the patient who has the disease" - Sir William Osler
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"It is hard enough to remember my opinions, without also remembering my reasons for them" - Friedrich Nietzsche
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"Not everything that can be counted counts, and not everything that counts can be counted." - Albert Einstein
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"A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds, adored by little statesman and philosophers and divines. With consistency a great soul has simply nothing to do." - Ralph Waldo Emerson
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"This ain't no party, this ain't no disco, this ain't no fooling around." - Talking Heads, Life During Wartime
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"What is hateful to you, do not do to your neighbour. This is the whole Torah; all the rest is commentary. Go and learn it." - Hillel, Talmud, Shabbath 31a
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"If you only have a hammer, you tend to see every problem as a nail." - Abraham Maslow
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"There are no facts, only interpretations." - Nietzsche
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"In character, in manner, in style, in all things, the supreme excellence is simplicity." - Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
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Workouts by month - Goal 200 from 11/1/09 through 10/31/10
http://ow.ly/1mYi7 - ABIM MOC program - two differing viewpoints - you can guess my voteMarch 16, 2010 5:06
RT @yejnes: My thoughts on the annual exam, etc., final letter ACP Internist, March 2010 http://bit.ly/9FNcXn wel-stated & importantMarch 15, 2010 12:47
A note to the professors, from the "real" world, on the use of ICDs in a fee for service community... http://ow.ly/1jaPy - great postMarch 13, 2010 2:19
RT @paulinechen: New "Doctor and Patient"; Learning to Keep Patients Safe in a Culture of Fear http://nyti.ms/bYA14V - blog post comingMarch 12, 2010 1:35
RT @tom_peters: @kevinmd Spoken like an MD. - true primary care is very complex - it is not simple care -March 11, 2010 12:43
RT @efalchuk: Seriously, what is Nancy Pelosi Talking About? http://bit.ly/9sHSc2 #healthreform #hcr #healthcare think Dazed and ConfusedMarch 10, 2010 7:53
Obama Says Health Overhaul Should Trump Politics - http://nyti.ms/bwKRyo - and he is correctMarch 8, 2010 7:28
@BertDecker multiples of 37 - trivial - any factor of 111 would factor into the others. The key here is that 37 * 3 = 111March 7, 2010 9:00
As I have written previously I am morally against physician assisted suicide. In my mind this action crosses an ethical line which troubles me.
However, I also consider myself a libertarian and a supporter of States’ Rights. While I disagree personally with the Oregon law, I must support their right to develop statute on this issue.
This decision would make an outstanding test question for law students. The issues are very complex. I personally must separate my personal philosophy about physician assisted suicide (strongly against) from the implications of the Attorney General being able to prosecute physicians who choose to help patients in need.
While I believe that physician assisted suicide leads to a slippery slope, so does a decision in favor of the Federal Government being able to prosecute physicians.
So I hope the Supreme Court will deny the Attorney General’s office their motion. And I hope other states refrain from passing such laws.
i thought i’d comment since i attended oral arguments this morning. o’connor seemed very skeptical of the ag’s ability to regulate medicine in this manner. she asked several hard nosed questions comparing pas and doctor’s involvement with state-sanctioned killing of inmates. ginsburg was also very dismissive of the feds argument. that being said, what will be interesting is to see when o’connor is actually replaced. if she is not replaced before the opinion is written, she will get to vote. if that happens, i think the law will be upheld.
also, i am curious to understand more about your moral objections to oregon’s law. is it that physicians should only heal patients, not harm them? i ask because, the oregon law was very well crafted to prevent much of the abuses that so concerned people (regarding euthanasia, and discrimination of minorities or those of low ses).
regardless, the argument this morning was very well done by both oregon and the solicitor general.
We’ve been talking about this in the office. I wonder if you agree that this has an effect on the “off label” use of medications. If the question is ‘can narcotic prescriptions be used to assist a hastened death?’ which is clearly an “off label,” use for narcotics and the answer is “no, they can’t be Rx’d that way,” then will this decision open a can of worms that requires drug companies to submit for FDA approval for all current off label uses for their drugs? This will really bog the system down and open prescribers’ to suit for any off label prescriptions.
I’ll agree to support states’ rights for Oregon, if those judges can reason far enough to then apply that same standard to states’ anti-abortion laws. Surely if one state can decide to kill its elderly, another state can decide not to kill its babies. And maybe if this were permitted, it would promote a more civil society. People who like euthanasia can move to Oregon, and people who don’t like abortion can move to Kansas.
Is there hard evidence that a “slipper slope” has occurred or is occuring in the state of Oregon? What abuses would come about if PAS is legalized? A physician killing patients? I strongly doubt it since PAS is what it is…suicide with the assistance of a physician. In other words, a physician will only provide the patient (requester) with the tool so that they’ll use it along to terminate their own life. My understand of suicide is termination of one’s own life meaning that no one else played a role in that person’s suicide. Suicide is the action of one person and one person only. Say for instance, if someone provides me with a gun, and I use that gun to blow my brains out, does that mean that the person who provided the gun killed me? Same concept applies to PAS. Again, is there concret evidence that a “slipper slope” has occurred or will occur? Thanks.
5 Responses to The Supremes and physician assisted suicide
james gaulte
October 5th, 2005 at 6:00 pm
I had planned to post on this topic and planned to say exactly what you said.No need now. I’ll just agree with you.
Japhy
October 5th, 2005 at 6:51 pm
i thought i’d comment since i attended oral arguments this morning. o’connor seemed very skeptical of the ag’s ability to regulate medicine in this manner. she asked several hard nosed questions comparing pas and doctor’s involvement with state-sanctioned killing of inmates. ginsburg was also very dismissive of the feds argument. that being said, what will be interesting is to see when o’connor is actually replaced. if she is not replaced before the opinion is written, she will get to vote. if that happens, i think the law will be upheld.
also, i am curious to understand more about your moral objections to oregon’s law. is it that physicians should only heal patients, not harm them? i ask because, the oregon law was very well crafted to prevent much of the abuses that so concerned people (regarding euthanasia, and discrimination of minorities or those of low ses).
regardless, the argument this morning was very well done by both oregon and the solicitor general.
Laurie
October 5th, 2005 at 8:37 pm
We’ve been talking about this in the office. I wonder if you agree that this has an effect on the “off label” use of medications. If the question is ‘can narcotic prescriptions be used to assist a hastened death?’ which is clearly an “off label,” use for narcotics and the answer is “no, they can’t be Rx’d that way,” then will this decision open a can of worms that requires drug companies to submit for FDA approval for all current off label uses for their drugs? This will really bog the system down and open prescribers’ to suit for any off label prescriptions.
Laurie Anderson, RNP
Alice
October 11th, 2005 at 6:40 pm
I’ll agree to support states’ rights for Oregon, if those judges can reason far enough to then apply that same standard to states’ anti-abortion laws. Surely if one state can decide to kill its elderly, another state can decide not to kill its babies. And maybe if this were permitted, it would promote a more civil society. People who like euthanasia can move to Oregon, and people who don’t like abortion can move to Kansas.
Angel
November 29th, 2005 at 3:29 pm
Is there hard evidence that a “slipper slope” has occurred or is occuring in the state of Oregon? What abuses would come about if PAS is legalized? A physician killing patients? I strongly doubt it since PAS is what it is…suicide with the assistance of a physician. In other words, a physician will only provide the patient (requester) with the tool so that they’ll use it along to terminate their own life. My understand of suicide is termination of one’s own life meaning that no one else played a role in that person’s suicide. Suicide is the action of one person and one person only. Say for instance, if someone provides me with a gun, and I use that gun to blow my brains out, does that mean that the person who provided the gun killed me? Same concept applies to PAS. Again, is there concret evidence that a “slipper slope” has occurred or will occur? Thanks.