Physician-Assisted Suicide in the Dark Ward: The Intersection of the Thirteenth Amendment and Health Care Treatments Having Disproportionate Impact on Disfavored Groups

• NCJ Number: 174990
• Journal: Seton Hall Law Review Volume: 28 Issue: 3 Dated: 1998 Pages: 774-896
• Author(s): L J Pittman
• Date Published: 1998
• Length: 123 pages
• Publication Format: Article
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

This paper analyzes the impact of the U.S. Supreme Court's decision in "Glucksberg" (1997) and "Quill" (1997) on physician- assisted suicide in general and on African Americans and other disfavored minorities in particular.

Abstract

Part II discusses the Court's cases on the "right-to-die," including "Gluckberg's" conclusion that the decision regarding the legalization of physician-assisted suicide should be left to States as experimenting laboratories. Part III analyzes some of the potential implications of States' regulation of physician- assisted suicide, concentrating on probable racial discrimination in the practical application of physician-assisted suicide. The conclusion is that physician-assisted suicide should be made available for those terminally ill patients whose pain cannot be controlled by pain medication. States, however, should enact and enforce stringent laws to prevent physicians from coercing patients into involuntary physician-assisted suicide and to adequately punish those who do engage in such conduct. Part IV examines physicians' involvement in discriminating against African-American patients from slavery to the present time. Part V examines the philosophical underpinning of the Thirteenth Amendment and asserts that the amendment's supporters intended to outlaw both the master-slave relationship and "badges and incidents" of slavery, including current racial discrimination in society and in the health care industry. Part VI evaluates the Supreme Court's Thirteenth Amendment jurisprudence and concludes that the Court should refocus its interpretation of the amendment by recognizing the "black inferiority" theory as the foundational support of slavery. Part VII argues that the Court and lower level Federal courts should acknowledge an individual's right to bring direct racial discrimination claims under the Thirteenth Amendment, including claims based on the disproportionate impact of apparently neutral policies and practices. Part VIII discusses some areas in which direct claims under the Thirteenth Amendment might be used to eradicate racism in the health care industry, including the potential racial application of physician-assisted suicide. 480 notes