PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - M Lappé
TI  - Dying while living: a critique of allowing-to-die legislation.
AID  - 10.1136/jme.4.4.195
DP  - 1978 Dec 01
TA  - Journal of Medical Ethics
PG  - 195--199
VI  - 4
IP  - 4
4099  - http://jme.bmj.com/content/4/4/195.short
4100  - http://jme.bmj.com/content/4/4/195.full
SO  - J Med Ethics1978 Dec 01; 4
AB  - Several US states are enacting 'right-to-die' laws, in the wake of the Karen Quinlan case. But the way such a law is drafted may cast doubt on a patient's existing common law right to control all aspects of his own treatment; it may give legal sanction to a lower standard of medical care that society at present expects from doctors; and it may lead to conflict between the patient's directive and his doctor's clinical judgement which cannot readily be resolved. The laws themselves are categorised as a) legalising active killing or b) defining rights of patients to control treatment or c) assigning to others the rights to control treatment where the patient is not competent. The California law is discussed critically. The conclusion is that such legislation is not a satisfactory answer to the ethical problem of euthanasia.