Death with Dignity: A Case Study

On Being a Doctor21 March 2000Death with Dignity: A Case StudyWalter J. Kade, MDWalter J. Kade, MDSearch for more papers by this authorAuthor, Article, and Disclosure Informationhttps://doi.org/10.7326/0003-4819-132-6-200003210-00014 SectionsAboutFull TextPDF ToolsAdd to favoritesDownload CitationsTrack CitationsPermissions ShareFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditEmail I voted twice against legislative measures in Oregon that would allow physician-assisted suicide. Within months after the Death with Dignity Act became law, I received a call from the parents of a patient of mine requesting that I assist their daughter in her suicide.My patient was then only 29 years old, but she seemed much older and wiser. I had diagnosed her non-Hodgkin lymphoma almost 10 years earlier. She was not only bright but also intensely perceptive and private. With a thin, angled countenance, thick, dark hair, and rich, introspective eyes, she was a startlingly handsome young woman. For ...Reference1. Haley K, Lee M, eds. The Oregon Death with Dignity Act: A Guidebook for Health Care Providers. Portland, OR: The Center for Ethics in Health Care, Oregon Health Sciences University; 1998. Google Scholar Author, Article, and Disclosure InformationAffiliations: Editor's Note: The family of the patient described here gave permission to publish this report. At the family's request, however, the author agreed that his real name would not be used. Walter J. Kade is a pseudonym. PreviousarticleNextarticle Advertisement FiguresReferencesRelatedDetails Metrics Cited byA Philosophical View on the Experience of Dignity and Autonomy through the Phenomenology of IllnessCultural Differences in Shame and Guilt as Understandable Reasons for SuicidePatient Perspectives of Dignity, Autonomy and Control at the End of Life: Systematic Review and Meta-EthnographyNew Zealanders' Attitudes toward Physician-Assisted DyingSuicide in Later LifeEuthanasia tactics: patterns of injustice and outrageDignity TherapyLearning from dying patients during their final days: life reflections gleaned from dignity therapyThe Traditional Account of Ethics and Law at the End of Life—and its DiscontentsDignity and health: A reviewA CRITICAL ANALYSIS OF CRITICISMS OF THE OREGON DEATH WITH DIGNITY ACTDefining dignity in terminally ill cancer patients: A factor-analytic approachDignity and Psychotherapeutic Considerations in End-of-Life CareOregon Physicians' Responses to Requests for Assisted Suicide: A Qualitative StudyDying with dignity: The good patient versus the good deathTake Some Time to Look Inside Their HeartsDignity in the terminally ill: a developing empirical modelPhysician-assisted dying: Review of issues and roles for health psychologists. 21 March 2000Volume 132, Issue 6Page: 504-506KeywordsDecision makingEmotionsIngestionPainShockSleepSuicideSweatThoraxVomiting ePublished: 15 August 2000 Issue Published: 21 March 2000 Copyright & PermissionsCopyright © 2000 by American College of Physicians. All Rights Reserved.PDF downloadLoading ...