Journal Articles

ReaderBelow you'll find a selection of scholarly journal articles and book reviews related to end-of-life care and the Death with Dignity movement, written by respected legal and medical specialists. They're organized by topic; then, sorted in reverse chronological order. Please click on a topic below to jump to a particular area of interest:

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Implementation Reviews of Death with Dignity
Legal physician-assisted dying in Oregon and the Netherlands: The question of "vulnerable" groups. A reply to I.G. Finlay and R. George
July, 27 2011. Margaret P. Battin, Agnes van der Heide, Linda Ganzini, Gerrit van der Wal, Bregje D. Onwuteaka. Journal of Medical Ethics.

Quality of Death and Dying in Patients Who Request Physician-Assisted Death
April 6, 2011. Kathryn A. Smith, Elizabeth R. Goy, Theresa A. Harvath and Linda Ganzini. Journal of Palliative Medicine, Vol. 14, No. 4, pp. 445-450.

Mental Health Outcomes of Family Members of Oregonians Who Request Physician Aid in Dying
December 2009. Linda Ganzini, Elizabeth R. Goy, Steven K. Dobscha, Holly Prigerson. Journal of Pain and Symptom Management, Vol. 38, No. 6, pp. 807-815.

Why Oregon Patients Request Assisted Death: Family Members' Views
February, 2008. Linda Ganzini, Elizabeth R. Goy, and Steven K. Dobscha. Journal of General Internal Medicine, Vol. 23, No. 2, pp. 154-157.

Legal Physician-Assisted Dying in Oregon and the Netherlands: Evidence Concerning the Impact on Patients in "Vulnerable" Groups
October, 2007. Margaret P Battin, Agnes van der Heide, Linda Ganzini, Gerrit van der Wal, Bregje D Onwuteaka-Philipsen. Journal of Medical Ethics, Vol. 33, No. 10, pp. 591-597.

Oregon Hospice Chaplains' Experiences with Patients Requesting Physician-Assisted Suicide
December 13, 2005. Bryant Carlson, Nicole Simopolous, Elizabeth R. Goy, Ann Jackson, Linda Ganzini. Journal of Palliative Medicine, Vol. 8, No. 6, pp. 1160-1166.

Characteristics of Patients Requesting and Receiving Physician-Assisted Death
July 14, 2003. Diane E. Meier, Carol-Ann Emmons, Ann Litke, Sylvan Wallenstein, and R. Sean Morrison. Archive of Internal Medicine, Vol. 163, No. 13, pp. 1537-1542.

Interest in Assisted Suicide Among Oregon Cancer Patients
April 2003. Linda Ganzini, Tomasz M. Beer, and Matthew Brouns. Oregon Health Sciences University.

Legalized Physician-Assisted Suicide in Oregon, 1998-2000
February 22, 2001. Amy D. Sullivan, Katrina Hedberg, and David Hopkins New England Journal of Medicine, Vol. 344, No. 8, pp. 605-607.

Physician-Assisted Suicide and Patients with Human Immunodeficiency Virus Disease
February 6, 1997. Lee R. Slome, Thomas F. Mitchell, Edwin Charlebois, Jeffrey Moulton Benevedes, and Donald I. Abrams. New England Journal of Medicine, Vol. 336, No. 6, pp. 417-421.

Professionals' Opinions about Death with Dignity
Physician-Assisted Death
2008. Timothy E. Quill and Jane Greenlaw. From Birth to Death and Bench to Clinic: The Hastings Center Bioethics Briefing Book for Journalists, Policymakers, and Campaigns pp. 137-142.

Physician-Assisted Death in the United States: Are the Existing 'Last Resorts' Enough?
September-October 2008. Timothy E. Quill. Hastings Center Report, Vol. 38, No. 5, pp. 17-22.

Physician-Assisted Suicide: For and Against
November 14, 2005. Andrew D. Boyd. American Medical Student Association.

Assisted Suicide and Nursing Ethics
August 2004. Michele M. Mathes. MedSurg Nursing, Vol. 13, No. 4, 261-265.

Oregon Physicians' Perceptions of Patients Who Request Assisted Suicide and Their Families
July 7, 2004. Linda Ganzini, Steven K. Dobscha, and Ronald T. Heintz, Nancy Press. Journal of Palliative Medicine, Vol. 6, No. 3. pp. 381-390.

Experience of Oregon Nurses and Social Workers with Hospice Patients Who Request Assistance with Suicide
August 22, 2002. Linda Ganzini, Theresa A. Harvath, Ann Jackson, Elizabeth R. Goy, Lois L. Miller, and Molly A. Delorit. New England Journal of Medicine, Vol. 347, No. 8, pp. 582-588.

Oregon Physicians' Attitudes About and Experiences With End-of-Life Care Since Passage of the Oregon Death with Dignity Act
May 9, 2001. Linda Ganzini, Heidi D. Nelson, Melinda A. Lee, Dale F. Kraemer, Terri A. Schmidt, and Molly A. Delorit. Journal of the American Medical Association, Vol. 285, No. 18, pp. 2363-2369.

A National Survey of Physician-Assisted Suicide and Euthanasia in the United States
April 23, 1998. Diane E. Meier, Carol-Ann Emmons, Sylvan Wallenstein, Timothy Quill, R. Sean Morrison, and Christine K. Cassel. New England Journal of Medicine, Vol. 338, No. 17, pp.1193-1201.

Attitudes of Oregon Psychiatrists Toward Physician-Assisted Suicide
November 1996. Linda Ganzini, DS Fenn, Melinda A. Lee, Ronald T. Heintz and JD Bloom. American Journal of Psychiatry, Vol. 153, No. 11, pp.1469-1475.

Oregon Emergency Physicians' Experiences with, Attitudes Toward, and Concerns about Physician-Assisted Suicide
October 1996. Terri A Schmidt, AD Zechnich, Virginia P. Tilden, Melinda A. Lee, Linda K Ganzini, Heidi D. Nelson, and Susan W. Tolle. Academic Emergency Medicine, Vol. 3, No. 10, pp.938-945.

Sounding Board: The Legalization of Physician-Assisted Suicide
August 29, 1996. David Orentlicher. New England Journal of Medicine, Vol. 335, No. 9, pp. 663-667.

Physician-Assisted Suicide and Euthanasia in Washington State: Patient Requests and Physician Responses
March 27, 1996. Anthony L. Back, Jeffrey I. Wallace, Helene E. Starks, and Robert A. Pearlman. Journal of the American Medical Association, Vol. 275, No. 12, pp. 919-925.

Attitudes of Michigan Physicians and the Public Toward Legalizing Physician-Assisted Suicide and Voluntary Euthanasia
February 1, 1996. Jerald G. Bachman, Kirsten H. Alcser, David J. Doukas, Richard L. Lichtenstein, Amy D. Corning, and Howard Brody. New England Journal of Medicine, Vol. 334, No. 5, pp. 303-309.

Legalizing Assisted Suicide — Views of Physicians in Oregon
February 1, 1996. Melinda A. Lee, Heidi D. Nelson, Virginia P. Tilden, Linda Ganzini, Terri A. Schmidt, and Susan W. Tolle. New England Journal of Medicine, Vol. 334, No. 5, pp. 310-315.

Legal Challenges
Congress, Controlled Substances, and Physician-Assisted Suicide — Elephants in Mouseholes
March 9, 2006. George J. Annas. The New England Journal of Medicine Vol. 354, No. 10, pp. 1079-1084.

The Big Chill: Inserting the DEA Into End-Of-Life Care
January 5, 2006. Timothy E. Quill, and Diane E. Meier. New England Journal of Medicine Vol. 354, No. 1, pp. 1-3.

Seven Legal Barriers to End-of-Life Care: Myths, Realities, and Grains of Truth
November 15, 2000. Alan Meisel, Lois Snyder, and Timothy Quill. Journal of the American Medical Association, Vol. 284, No. 19, pp. 2495-2501.

The Pain Relief Promotion Act of 1999: A Serious Threat to Palliative Care
January 12, 2000. David Orentlicher, and Arthur Caplan. Journal of the American Medical Association, Vol. 283, No. 2, pp. 255-258.

End of Life Care
NHPCO Facts and Figures: Hospice Care in America
January, 2012. Published online. National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization.

Information of Imminent Death or Not: Does It Make a Difference?
September 12, 2011. Published online. Gunilla Lundquist, Birgit H. Rasmussen and Bertil Axelsson. Journal of Clinical Oncology.

Place of Death: Correlations With Quality of Life of Patients With Cancer and Predictors of Bereaved Caregivers' Mental Health
September 13, 2010, published online. Alexi A. Wright, Nancy L. Keating, Tracy A. Balboni, Ursula A. Matulonis, Susan D. Block and Holly G. Prigerson. Journal of Clinical Oncology.

Early Palliative Care for Patients with Metastatic Non–Small-Cell Lung Cancer
August 19, 2010. Jennifer S. Temel, Joseph A. Greer, Alona Muzikansky, Emily R. Gallagher, Sonal Admane, Vicki A. Jackson, Constance M. Dahlin, Craig D. Blinderman, Juliet Jacobsen, William F. Pirl, J. Andrew Billings, and Thomas J. Lynch. Journal of American Medicine Vol 363, No. 8, pp. 733-742.

"I'm Not Ready for Hospice": Strategies for Timely and Effective Hospice Discussions
March 20, 2007. David J. Casarett, and Timothy E. Quill. Annals of Internal Medicine Vol 146, No. 6, pp. 443-449.

Book Review of Ending Life: Ethics and the Way We Die
February 15, 2006. Reviewed by Laura Purdy. Journal of American Medicine Vol 295, No. 7, pp.830-831.

Improving End-of-Life Care: Why Has It Been So Difficult?
December 7, 2005. Edited by Bruce Jennings, Gregory E. Kaebnick, and Thomas H. Murray. A Hastings Center Special Report. Executive summary.

Dying and Decision Making — Evolution of End-of-Life Options
April 22, 2004. Timothy E. Quill, MD. New England Journal of Medicine, Vol. 350, No. 20, 2029-2032.

Palliative Sedation and Voluntary Refusal of Treatment and/or Food & Fluids
Last-Resort Options for Palliative Sedation
September 15, 2009. Timothy E. Quill, Bernard Lo, Dan W. Brock, and Alan Meisel. Annals of Internal Medicine, Vol. 151, No. 6, 421-424.

Death by Voluntary Dehydration — What the Caregivers Say
July 24, 2004. Sandra Jacobs. New England Journal of Medicine, Vol. 349, No. 4, pp. 325-326.

Voluntary refusal of food and fluids: attitudes of Oregon hospice nurses and social workers
May, 2004. Theresa A. Harvath, Lois L. Miller, Elizabeth R. Goy, Ann Jackson, Molly A. Delorit, and Linda Ganzini. International Journal of Palliative Nursing, Vol. 10, No. 5, pp. 236-241.

Nurses' Experiences with Hospice Patients Who Refuse Food and Fluids to Hasten Death
July 24, 2003. Linda Ganzini, Elizabeth R. Goy, Lois L. Miller, Theresa A. Harvath, Ann Jackson, and Molly A. Delorit. New England Journal of Medicine, Vol. 349, No. 4, pp. 359-365.

Responding to Intractable Terminal Suffering: The Role of Terminal Sedation and Voluntary Refusal of Food and Fluids
March 7, 2000. Timothy E. Quill and Ira R. Byock. Annals of Internal Medicine, Vol. 132 No. 5, pp. 408-414.

Depression, Competence, and the Right to Refuse Life-Saving Treatment
July 1994. Mark D. Sullivan and Stuart J. Younger. American Journal of Psychiatry, Vol. 151, No. 7, pp. 971-978.

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You are the key to ensuring well-crafted Death with Dignity laws for all Americans. With your financial and volunteer help, the Death with Dignity National Center, a 501(c)(3), non-partisan, non-profit organization, has been the leading advocate in the death with dignity movement. Member contributions helped us pass a new Death with Dignity law in Washington, defend the Oregon law, and provide education and outreach programs for the vitality of the death with dignity movement.

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About Death with Dignity

The greatest human freedom is to live, and die, according to one's own desires and beliefs. From advance directives to physician-assisted dying, death with dignity is a movement to provide options for the dying to control their own end-of-life care.

Death with Dignity National Center is the leader in this movement, successfully establishing, advancing and defending the landmark Oregon and Washington Death with Dignity Acts.

Learn more about our family of organizations.

Political Action Fund

Capitol BuildingThe Death with Dignity National Center partners with the Oregon Death with Dignity Political Action Fund to conduct lobbying and political activities in order to achieve the enactment of Death with Dignity laws in other states.

Learn more about the Oregon Death with Dignity Political Action Fund.

Patients & Families

family timeThe Death with Dignity National Center was formed out of a profound commitment to the idea that personal end-of-life decisions should be made solely between a patient and a physician. We are pleased to provide you with support and information as you face the difficult challenges ahead.

Find resources for patients and families.

Research Center

person studyingWe have compiled a comprehensive collection of legal briefs, journal articles, and newspaper clippings. We invite you to explore the wide array of information we have collected throughout our history.

Dive into the archives of the National Center.