Editing Right to die (section)

==== Legislation ====
As the health of citizens is considered a police power left for individual states to regulate, it was not until 1997 that the US Supreme Court made a ruling on the issue of assisted suicide and one's right to die. That year, the Supreme Court heard two appeals arguing that New York (''[[Vacco v. Quill]]''<ref>{{Cite web|title=Vaco v. Quill|url=https://www.oyez.org/cases/1996/95-1858|website=Oyez}}</ref>) and Washington (''[[Washington v. Glucksberg]]<ref>{{Cite web|title=Washington v. Glucksberg|url=https://www.oyez.org/cases/1996/96-110|website=Oyez}}</ref>'') statutes that made physician-assisted suicide a felony violated the equal protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.<ref>{{cite web | title = Vacco, Attorney General of New York, et al. v. Quill et al.| url = https://scholar.google.com/scholar_case?case=10644975876581235704&q=vacco+v.+quill&hl=en&as_sdt=40000006 | publisher = United States Supreme Court }}</ref> In a unanimous vote, the Court held that there was no constitutional right to physician-assisted suicide and upheld state bans on assisted suicide. While in New York has maintained statutes banning physician-assisted suicide, the Court's decision also left it open for other states to decide whether they would allow physician-assisted suicide or not.

Since 1994, the following states in the US have passed assisted suicide laws: Oregon (Death with Dignity Act, 1994), Washington (Death with Dignity Act, 2008), Vermont (Patient Choice and Control at the End of Life Act, 2013), California (End of Life Option Act, 2015), Colorado (End of Life Options Act, 2016), District of Columbia (D.C. Death with Dignity Act, 2016), Hawaii (Our Care Our Choice Act, 2018), Maine (Death with Dignity Act, 2019), New Jersey (Aid in Dying for the Terminally Ill Act, 2019), and New Mexico (Elizabeth Whitefield End of Life Options Act, 2021) passed legislation that provides a protocol for the practice of physician-assisted suicide.<ref>{{cite magazine| url=https://time.com/3551560/brittany-maynard-right-to-die-laws/ | magazine=Time | first=Emily | last=Barone | name-list-style = vanc | title=See Which States Allow Assisted Suicide | date=3 November 2014}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=Death with Dignity Acts|url=https://deathwithdignity.org/learn/death-with-dignity-acts/|website=Death with Dignity}}</ref> The law in these states allows terminally ill adult patients to seek lethal medication from their physicians. In 2009, the Montana Supreme Court ruled that nothing in state law prohibits physician-assisted suicide and provides legal protection for physicians in the case that they prescribe lethal medication upon patient request. In California, the governor signed a controversial physician-assisted-suicide bill, the [[California End of Life Option Act]], in October 2015 that passed during a special legislative session intended to address Medi-Cal funding,<ref>{{cite web | vauthors = Brown EG | title = A Proclamation by the Governor of California: Convene Extraordinary Session of the Legislature of the State of California | url = https://www.gov.ca.gov/docs/6.16.15_Health_Care_Special_Session.pdf | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20160201231452/https://www.gov.ca.gov/docs/6.16.15_Health_Care_Special_Session.pdf | archive-date = 1 February 2016 | url-status = dead | date = 16 June 2015 }}</ref> after it had been defeated during the regular legislative session.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.sacbee.com/news/politics-government/capitol-alert/article33269166.html|title=Assisted-death bill passes first Assembly committee|first=Alexei|last=Koseff| name-list-style = vanc |access-date=17 February 2019|newspaper=Sacramento Bee}}</ref>

In early 2014, New Mexico Second District Judge Nan Nash ruled that terminally ill patients have the right to aid in dying under the state constitution, i.e., making it legal for a doctor to prescribe a lethal dose of medication to a terminally ill patient.<ref>{{cite news| url=https://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-new-mexico-aid-dying-20140120-story.html | work=Los Angeles Times | first=Saba | last=Hamedy | name-list-style = vanc | title=New Mexico judge affirms right to 'aid in dying' | date=19 January 2014}}</ref> The ultimate decision will be made with the outcome of New Mexico's Attorney General's appeal to the ruling. Organizations have been continuously pushing for the legalization of self-determination in terminally ill patients in states where the right to end one's life is prohibited.<ref>{{cite journal | vauthors = Printz C | title = Death with dignity: young patient with brain tumor puts a face on the right-to-die movement | journal = Cancer | volume = 121 | issue = 5 | pages = 641–43 | date = March 2015 | pmid = 25703858 | doi = 10.1002/cncr.29283 | doi-access = free }}</ref>

'''Medical Perspective'''

The American Medical Association (AMA) is the national association that advocates for physicians and provides guidance for the best practices for delivering health care. The AMA is responsible for maintaining the Code of Ethics, which consists of two parts: the Principles of Medical Ethics and Opinions of the AMA's Council on Ethical and Judicial Affairs.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Code of Medical Ethics: Caring for patients at the end of life|url=https://www.ama-assn.org/delivering-care/ethics/code-medical-ethics-caring-patients-end-life|access-date=2021-09-20|website=American Medical Association|language=en}}</ref> The role of physicians in patient's right to die is debated within the medical community, however, the AMA provided an opinion statement on the matter.

'''Opinion statement regarding physician-assisted suicide'''

Patients who are terminally ill or suffering from debilitating illnesses may decide that they prefer to die rather than continue suffering. Physicians commit themselves to "[[Primum non nocere|do no harm]]" and by participating in assisted suicide physicians would inherently be causing harm to their patients. Rather than participating in assisted suicide, physicians should provide palliative care to minimize patient suffering. These are recommendations for physicians from the Code of Medical Ethics Opinion 5.7<ref>{{Cite web|title=Physician-Assisted Suicide|url=https://www.ama-assn.org/delivering-care/ethics/physician-assisted-suicide|access-date=2021-09-20|website=American Medical Association|language=en}}</ref> regarding end of life care:

* Should not abandon a patient once it is determined that a cure is impossible.
* Must respect patient autonomy.
* Must provide good communication and emotional support.
* Must provide appropriate comfort care and adequate pain control.