LIFE IN THE BALANCE: PHYSICIAN ASSISTED SUICIDE/AID IN DYING

Abstract

End of life choices have grown into an important modern issue as many begin to question the clarity of their options personally and for loved ones. The practice is usually labeled physician assisted suicide by most opponents and aid in dying by most proponents. The event occurs when a terminally ill mentally competent patient asks for and is prescribed medicines which the patient must self administer, if he or she decides to take them, in order to achieve a peaceful death. The event is a moderated conversation by leading experts on both sides of the issue discussing the morality, legality and ethical nature of the choices that face a person at the end of their life. Moderated by Tia Powell, M.D., Director of the Montefiore Einstein Center for Bioethics, and including panelists Dr. Donald Landry, Chairman of the Department of Medicine at Columbia University and David Leven, JD, Executive Director of End of Life Choices New York, O. Carter Snead, Professor of Law at the University of Notre Dame, and Dr. Timothy Quill, Director of the Center for Ethics, Humanities and Palliative Care at the University of Rochester.