When Death Is Sought: Assisted Suicide and Euthanasia in the Medical Context.

This report is the result of an examination of assisted suicide and euthanasia by the New York State Task Force on Life and the Law. Issued in May 1994, the task force's report unanimously recommended that New York laws prohibiting assisted suicide and euthanasia should not be changed. The report begins by examining the epidemiology of suicide, including the reasons that people commit suicide, the capacity of medicine to respond to some of those underlying reasons, and its widespread failure to do so. The report also analyzes in depth the criminal and common law that applies to suicide assistance and euthanasia, as well as the constitutional law. The second half of the report explains the task force's conclusion that the existing legal prohibition on assisted suicide should not be changed. In addition, it sets forth the principles that should animate professional medical standards in this area and proposes policies to enhance the treatment provided to dying and incurably ill patients. The task force also presents specific recommendations for modifying New York statutes and regulations on controlled substances to increase the availability of medically necessary analgesic medications, including opioids.

The...