Assignment: Assisted Suicide (5-8 pages)

The topic is ASSISTED SUICIDE - a health care issue with controversial ethical and legal implications that was at the center of a high visibility case in the public domain.

There is no time frame during which the case must have occurred; however, that any case selected must be analyzed in the context of laws and policies that existed at the time of the case in addition to current laws and policies.

Use at least 8-10 relevant peer-reviewed academic or professional journal articles that were published within the past 5 years, and complete the following to prepare report:

• Analyze the ethics of the case from each end of the ethical spectrum (ultraconservative to ultraliberal) from the perspective of the following stakeholders:

o Patient,
o Patient's immediate family or guardians
o Emergency medical personnel or first responders
o Doctors, surgeons, specialists, or other medical providers
o The hospital or health care facility
o A pharmaceutical or medical device company

• Identify policies at the federal, state, and local levels relating to the provision of health care and patient rights that played the following roles in the case:

o Assesses opposing views of these policies from the perspectives of the provider and patient

o Analyzes the implications of these policies on the operations of health care organizations

• Identify at least 3 state or federal laws that are relevant to the case, and complete the following:

o Evaluate key legal factors that are inherent in the case.

o Assess various policies and procedures that are inherent in these laws that relate to the provision of health care by providers or patient rights.

• Differentiate between the demands of legal policies and ethical issues with relevance to the needs of the provider and patient.

• Formulate an assessment of the potential impact of the case on decision-making options in the future for providers, patients, and administrators.