When to help a patient die
Legal analysts at a Harvard Medical School (HMS) forum differed during a discussion Thursday evening on whether a law allowing death with dignity or assisted suicide for terminally ill patients is right for Massachusetts. But they agreed that similar laws in Oregon and Washington have not proven to be a “slippery slope” that endangered vulnerable patients. Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley has certified a ballot initiative for next November that, if passed, would enable a physician to write a prescription for a lethal dose of medicine if a terminally ill adult who is mentally competent asks for it. Proponents had until Dec. 7 to gather the needed 68,911 signatures in support of the measure to have it qualify for the state ballot. Speaking at an HMS medical ethics forum, Boston College Law School Professor Emeritus Charles H. Baron said that, in Massachusetts and many states, physicians are criminally liable if they accede to...