Moral Meanings of Physician-Assisted Death for Hospice Ethics
Abstract
This chapter summarizes the main findings in a study of policies on physician-assisted death developed by hospices in the State of Oregon. In general, the question of hospice involvement in physician-assisted death goes to the very core of the hospice philosophy of care, because so many values of hospice are implicated, including not hastening death, respecting patient wishes, and nonabandonment. The chapter argues that three general models of hospice response to legalized physician-assisted death can be discerned: nonparticipation, qualified participation, and respectful participation. These models are analyzed and the chapter recommends that local, state, and national hospice programs develop a decision-making process for morally controversial issues—a process that explicitly engages questions of ethics.