Write a formal research paper of at least 2,250 words (12pt, double space, 1” margin, conformed to Turabian) reflecting on some current injustice or moral problem that impacts people in the world toda

This article was published at Annals.org on 19 September 2017. H ow we die, live, and are cared for at the end of life is important, with implications for individuals, their families, and society. The 1997 reportApproaching Death: Improving Care at the End of Life, by the Insti- tute of Medicine (IOM), documented inadequate end- of-life care in the United States (1). The investigators of SUPPORT (Study to Understand Prognoses and Prefer- ences for Outcomes and Risks of Treatment; 2000) agreed (2, 3). The emphasis by medicine and society on intervention and cure has sometimes come at the expense of good end-of-life care. Inappropriate treat- ment at the end of life may be harmful and draining— physically, emotionally, and financially—for patients and their families. Many people have concerns about death.

At the end of life, some patients receive unwanted care; others do not receive needed care (4 – 6). Some end-of- life concerns are outside of medicine's scope and should be addressed in other ways. Although medicine now has an unprecedented capacity to treat illness and ease the dying process, the right care in the right place at the right time has not been achieved.

Medicine and society still struggle with getting it right for all patients. Although progress has beenmade, the principles and practices of hospice and pal- liative medicine have not been fully realized (4). Revis- iting these issues in 2014, the IOM'sDying in America:

Improving Quality and Honoring Individual Preferences Near the End of Lifereported that challenges remain in delivering quality end-of-life care to a growing and di- verse elderly population, especially with regard to ac- cess to care, communication barriers, time pressures, and care coordination (7). Inadequate reimbursement and other disincentives also are barriers to palliative and hospice care.

Hospice and palliative care may ease apprehension about the dying process. Such care requires improving access to, financing of, and training in palliative care; improving hospital, nursing home, and at-home capa- bilities in delivering care; and encouraging advance care planning and openness to discussions about dy- ing. Of note, 90% of U.S. adults do not know what pal- liative care is; however, when told the definition, more than 90% say they would want it for themselves or fam- ily members if severely ill (4).

Within this context of challenges in providing palli- ative and hospice care, a few U.S. jurisdictions have legalized physician-assisted suicide. This paper pres- ents the position of the American College of Physicians (ACP) on the topic. The ACP recognizes the range of views on, the depth of feeling about, and the complex- ity of this issue. This executive summary is a synopsis of See also: Related article............................ 579 Editorial comments....................595, 597 * This paper, authored by Lois Snyder Sulmasy, JD, and Paul S. Mueller, MD, MPH, was developed for the Ethics, Professionalism and Human Rights Committee of the American College of Physicians. Individuals who served on the Ethics, Professionalism and Human Rights Committee at the time of the paper's approval were Carrie A. Horwitch, MD, MPH† (Chair); Omar T. Atiq, MD† (Vice Chair); John R. Ball, MD, JD†; Nitin S. Damle, MD, MS†; Pooja Jaleel, BA†; Daniel B.

Kimball Jr., MD†; Lisa S. Lehmann, MD, PhD†; Ana Marı´a Lo´ pez, MD, MPH†; Paul S. Mueller, MD, MPH‡; Alexandra Norcott, MD†; Sima Suhas Pendharkar, MD, MPH†; Julie R. Rosenbaum, MD†; Molly B. Southworth, MD, MPH†; and Thomas G. Tape, MD†. Approved by the ACP Board of Regents on 27 March 2017.

† Nonauthor contributor.

‡ Author.

P OSITION P APER Annals of Internal Medicine 576© 2017 American College of Physicians Downloaded from https://annals.org by guest on 03/18/2020 the ACP's position. See theGlossaryfor definitions and theAppendixfor the full position paper.

M ETHODS This position paper was developed from Septem- ber 2015 to March 2017 on behalf of the ACP Ethics, Professionalism and Human Rights Committee (EPHRC).

Committee members abide by the ACP'sconflict-of- interest policy and procedures (www.acponline.org /about-acp/who-we-are/acp-conflict-of-interest-policy -and-procedures), and appointment to and procedures of the EPHRC are governed by the ACP's bylaws (www .acponline.org/about-acp/who-we-are/acp-bylaws). Af- ter an environmental assessment to determine the scope of issues and literature reviews, the EPHRC eval- uated and discussed several drafts of the paper; the paper was then reviewed by members of the ACP Board of Governors, Board of Regents, Council of Early Career Physicians, Council of Resident/Fellow Mem- bers, Council of Student Members, Council of Subspe- cialty Societies, Patient Partnership in Healthcare Cen- ter and Advisory Board, and other committees and experts. The paper was revised on the basis of com- ments from the aforementioned groups and individu- als, reviewed again by the full leadership, and then revised further. Finally, the ACP Board of Regents re- viewed the paper and approved it on 27 March 2017.

Financial support for this project is exclusively from the ACP operating budget. BACKGROUND AND BRIEF RATIONALE In 2001, the ACP published a position paper op- posing legalization of physician-assisted suicide (8).

This issue also has been considered every few years in theAmerican College of Physicians Ethics Manual, in- cluding the current edition (9). Given recent changes in the legal landscape, public interest in the topic, and continuing barriers to palliative and hospice care, an updated position paper is presented here. Within a framework that considers clinical practice, ethics, law, and policy, this paper provides background, discusses the role of palliative and hospice care, explores the na- ture of the patient–physician relationship and the dis- tinction between refusal of life-sustaining treatment and physician-assisted suicide, and provides recom- mendations for responding to patient requests for physician-assisted suicide.

Medical ethics establishes the duties of physicians to patients and society, sometimes to a greater extent than the law (9). Physicians have duties to patients on the basis of the ethical principles of beneficence (that is, acting in the patient's best interest), nonmaleficence (avoiding or minimizing harm), respect for patient au- tonomy, and promotion of fairness and social justice (9). Medical ethics and the law strongly support a patient's right to refuse treatment, including life- sustaining treatment. The intent is to avoid or withdraw treatment that the patient judges to be inconsistent with his or her goals and preferences. Death followsnaturally, after the refusal, as a result of the underlying disease (9).

Ethical arguments in support of physician-assisted suicide highlight the principle of respect for patient au- tonomy and a broad interpretation of a physician's duty to relieve suffering (10). Proponents view physician- assisted suicide as an act of compassion that respects patient choice and fulfills an obligation of nonabandon- ment (11). Opponents maintain that the profession's most consistent ethical traditions emphasize care and comfort, that physicians should not participate in inten- tionally ending a person's life, and that physician- assisted suicide requires physicians to breach specific prohibitions as well as the general duties of benefi- cence and nonmaleficence. Such breaches are viewed as inconsistent with the physician's role as healer and comforter (12, 13).

Both sides agree that patient autonomy is critical and must be respected, but they also recognize that it is not absolute and must be balanced with other ethical principles (9, 14). To do otherwise jeopardizes the phy- sician's ability to practice high-value care in the best interests of the patient, in a true patient–physician part- nership. Only by this balancing of ethical principles can physicians fulfill their duties, including those in more everyday encounters, such as when a physician advises against tests requested by a patient that are not medi- cally indicated, declines to write an illegal prescription, or breaches confidentiality to protect public health. It also undergirds the physician's duty not to engage in futile care (such as care based on requests for nonindi- cated cardiopulmonary resuscitation or end-of-life treatment of brain-dead patients under an expansive view of patient autonomy). Physicians are members of a profession with ethical responsibilities; they are moral agents, not merely providers of services (15).

The suffering of dying patients may be great and is caused by somatic symptoms, such as pain and nausea; psychological conditions, such as depression and anx- iety; interpersonal suffering due to dependency or un- resolved conflict; or existential suffering based in hope- lessness, indignity, or the belief that one's life has ended in a biographical sense but has not yet ended biologically. For some patients, a sense of control over the manner and timing of death brings comfort. How- ever, is it reasonable to ask medicine to relieve all hu- man suffering? Just as medicine cannot eliminate death, medicine cannot relieve all human suffering.

Both proponents and opponents of physician-assisted suicide wish to alleviate suffering of dying patients, and physicians have an ethical duty to provide competent palliative and hospice care (9). However, is physician- Glossary Suicide:The act of killing oneself intentionally.

Physician-assisted suicide:Physician participation in advising or providing, but not directly administering, the means or information enabling a person to intentionally end his or her life (e.g., ingesting a lethal dose of medication prescribed for that purpose).

Euthanasia:The act of intentionally ending a life to relieve pain or other suffering (e.g., lethal injection performed by a physician). Ethics and the Legalization of Physician-Assisted Suicide POSITION PAPER Annals.orgAnnals of Internal Medicine•Vol. 167 No. 8•17 October 2017577 Downloaded from https://annals.org by guest on 03/18/2020 assisted suicide a type of control over suffering and the dying process that is within the goals and scope of medicine?Balancing respect for patient autonomy against other principles reflects ethical arguments about the nature of the patient–physician relationship—a relation- ship that is inherently unequal because of power differ- entials and the vulnerability of illness—physicians' du- ties, and the role of the medical profession in society. A fuller consideration of this ethical balance, intent and causation in acts near the end of life, medicalization versus personalization of death, and the ethics and im- plications of physician-assisted suicide are presented in the Appendix (16–81). POSITION STATEMENT The ACP affirms a professional responsibility to im- prove the care of dying patients and their families. The ACP does not support the legalization of physician-assisted suicide, the practice of which raises ethical, clinical, and other concerns. The ACP and its members, including those who might lawfully partici- pate in the practice, should ensure that all patients can rely on high-quality care through to the end of life, with prevention or relief of suffering insofar as possible, a commitment to human dignity and management of pain and other symptoms, and support for families.

Physicians and patients must continue to search to- gether for answers to the challenges posed by living with serious illness before death (9). CONCLUSION Society's goal should be to make dying less, not more, medical. Physician-assisted suicide is neither a therapy nor a solution to difficult questions raised at the end of life. On the basis of substantive ethics, clinical practice, policy, and other concerns, the ACP does not support legalization of physician-assisted suicide. This practice is problematic given the nature of the patient– physician relationship, affects trust in that relationship as well as in the profession, and fundamentally alters the medical profession's role in society. Furthermore, the principles at stake in this debate also underlie med- icine's responsibilities on other issues and the physi- cian's duty to provide care based on clinical judgment, evidence, and ethics. Control over the manner and tim- ing of a person's death has not been and should not be a goal of medicine. However, through high-quality care, effective communication, compassionate support, and the right resources, physicians can help patients control many aspects of how they live out life's last chapter. From the American College of Physicians, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Acknowledgment: The authors and the ACP Ethics, Profes- sionalism and Human Rights Committee thank the many re- viewers of the paper for helpful comments on drafts and Kathy Wynkoop for administrative assistance. Financial Support: Exclusively from the ACP operating budget. Disclosures: Disclosures can be viewed at www.acponline .org/authors/icmje/ConflictOfInterestForms.do?msNum=M17 -0938. Requests for Single Reprints: Lois Snyder Sulmasy, JD, Amer- ican College of Physicians, Center for Ethics and Professional- ism, 190 N. Independence Mall West, Philadelphia, PA 19106; e-mail, [email protected].

Current author addresses and author contributions are avail- able at Annals.org. References 1. Field MJ, Cassel CK, eds; Committee on Care at the End of Life.

Approaching Death: Improving Care at the End of Life. Washington, DC: National Academies Pr; 1997.

2. Phillips RS, Hamel MB, Covinsky KE, Lynn J. Findings from SUPPORT and HELP: an introduction. Study to Understand Progno- ses and Preferences for Outcomes and Risks of Treatment. Hospital- ized Elderly Longitudinal Project. J Am Geriatr Soc. 2000;48:S1-5.

[PMID: 10809450] 3. A controlled trial to improve care for seriously ill hospitalized pa- tients. The study to understand prognoses and preferences for out- comes and risks of treatments (SUPPORT). The SUPPORT Principal Investigators. JAMA. 1995;274:1591-8. [PMID: 7474243] 4. Kelley AS, Morrison RS. Palliative care for the seriously ill. N Engl J Med. 2015;373:747-55. [PMID: 26287850] doi:10.1056/NEJMra 1404684 5. Johnson KS. Racial and ethnic disparities in palliative care. J Palliat Med. 2013;16:1329-34. [PMID: 24073685] doi:10.1089/jpm.2013 .9468 6. Payne R. Racially associated disparities in hospice and palliative care access: acknowledging the facts while addressing the opportu- nities to improve. J Palliat Med. 2016;19:131-3. [PMID: 26840847] doi:10.1089/jpm.2015.0475 7. Institute of Medicine; Committee on Approaching Death. Dying in America: Improving Quality and Honoring Individual Preferences Near the End of Life. Washington, DC: National Academies Pr; 2014.

doi:10.17226/18748 8. Snyder L, Sulmasy DP; Ethics and Human Rights Committee, American College of Physicians-American Society of Internal Medi- cine. Physician-assisted suicide. Ann Intern Med. 2001;135:209-16.

[PMID: 11487490] 9. Snyder L; American College of Physicians Ethics, Professionalism, and Human Rights Committee. American College of Physicians Eth- ics Manual: sixth edition. Ann Intern Med. 2012;156:73-104. [PMID:

22213573] doi:10.7326/0003-4819-156-1-201201031-00001 10. Angell M. The Supreme Court and physician-assisted suicide— the ultimate right [Editorial]. N Engl J Med. 1997;336:50-3. [PMID:

8970940] 11. Quill TE, Back AL, Block SD. Responding to patients requesting physician-assisted death: physician involvement at the very end of life. JAMA. 2016;315:245-6. [PMID: 26784762] doi:10.1001/jama .2015.16210 12. Gaylin W, Kass LR, Pellegrino ED, Siegler M. ‘Doctors must not kill’. JAMA. 1988;259:2139-40. [PMID: 3346989] 13. Decisions near the end of life. Council on Ethical and Judicial Affairs, American Medical Association. JAMA. 1992;267:2229-33.

[PMID: 1372944] 14. Callahan D. When self-determination runs amok. Hastings Cent Rep. 1992;22:52-5. [PMID: 1587727] 15. Yang YT, Curlin FA. Why physicians should oppose assisted sui- cide. JAMA. 2016;315:247-8. [PMID: 26784763] doi:10.1001/jama .2015.16194 POSITION PAPER Ethics and the Legalization of Physician-Assisted Suicide 578 Annals of Internal Medicine •Vol. 167 No. 8 •17 October 2017 Annals.org Downloaded from https://annals.org by guest on 03/18/2020 Current Author Addresses: Ms. Snyder Sulmasy: American College of Physicians, Center for Ethics and Professionalism, 190 N. Independence Mall West, Philadelphia, PA 19106.

Dr. Mueller: Mayo Clinic, Gonda Building 17, 200 First Street Southwest, Rochester, MN 55905. Author Contributions: Conception and design: P.S. Mueller.

Analysis and interpretation of the data: L. Snyder Sulmasy, P.S.

Mueller.

Drafting of the article: L. Snyder Sulmasy, P.S. Mueller.

Critical revision for important intellectual content: P.S.

Mueller.

Final approval of the article: L. Snyder Sulmasy, P.S. Mueller.

Administrative, technical, or logistic support: L. Snyder Sulmasy.

Collection and assembly of data: L. Snyder Sulmasy, P.S.

Mueller. APPENDIX AND EXPANDED RATIONALE :E THICS AND THE LEGALIZATION OF PHYSICIAN - A SSISTED SUICIDE —A N AMERICAN COLLEGE OF PHYSICIANS POSITION PAPER Framing the Issues: Care Near the End of Life We all will die. How we die—and live at the end of life—is important, with implications for individuals, their families, and society. How we are cared for at the end of life matters.

The groundbreaking 1997 reportApproaching Death: Improving Care at the End of Life, by the IOM, documented inadequate end-of-life care in the United States (1). In 2000, the SUPPORT investigators agreed (2, 3). Although the cultural norm of fighting disease aggressively is the right approach in many cases, the emphasis by medicine, as well as society, on interven- tion and cure sometimes comes at the expense of good end-of-life care. Inappropriate treatment at the end of life may be harmful and draining—physically, emotion- ally, and financially—for patients and their families.

Many of us have concerns or apprehensions about how we will die. Indeed, some patients receive unwanted care at the end of life, whereas others do not receive the care they need (4 – 6). Although medicine now has an unprecedented capacity to treat illness and ease the dying process, the right care in the right place at the right time has not been achieved.

Medicine and society still struggle to get it right for all patients. Although progress has been made, the principles and practices of hospice and palliative med- icine have not been fully realized (4). Revisiting these issues in 2014, the IOM reportDying in America: Im- proving Quality and Honoring Individual Preferences Near the End of Lifefound that challenges remain in delivering quality end-of-life care to a growing and di- verse elderly population, especially regarding access to care, communication barriers, time pressures, and care coordination (7). Inadequate reimbursement and otherdisincentives also create barriers to palliative and hos- pice care.

Wide agreement exists that hospice and palliative care may ease apprehension about the dying process.

Such care requires improving access to, financing of, and training in palliative care; improving hospital, nurs- ing home, and at-home capabilities in delivering care; and encouraging advance care planning and openness to discussions about dying. Of note, 90% of U.S. adults do not know what palliative care is, but when told the definition, more than 90% say they would want it for themselves or family members if severely ill (4).

Access to state-of-the-art symptom control remains limited for all dying patients. Of particular concern, ev- idence of ethnic and racial disparities in access, out- comes, and communication is increasing (5, 6). Many patients fear they will not receive appropriate end-of- life care when they need it. Others are concerned about being a financial, physical, or other burden on their family, losing autonomy or control, or being placed in a long-term care facility. Some are alone or lonely; loneliness has a mortality risk similar to that of cigarette smoking, yet its health implications are un- derappreciated (16). Many persons approaching death are clinically depressed or have other psychiatric co- morbid conditions, and some contemplate suicide (17, 18). According to Wilson and colleagues, “the expres- sion of a desire for death by a terminally ill patient should raise a suspicion about mental health problems; by itself, however, it is not definitively diagnostic of one” (17). This desire fluctuates over time (19, 20) and may be related to inadequate symptom management.

Medicine can and should ameliorate many of these problems; some, however, are outside the scope or goals of medicine and should be addressed in other ways.

As challenges in providing palliative and hospice care continue, a few jurisdictions have legalized physician-assisted suicide (see theGlossaryfor defini- tions and theAppendix Tablefor U.S. jurisdictions with physician-assisted suicide laws). The ACP recognizes the range of views, depth of feeling, and complexity of the issue of physician-assisted suicide. Appendix Table.U.S. Jurisdictions Where Physician- Assisted Suicide Is Legal Where When How Oregon 1997 Voter-approved ballot initiative Washington 2008 Voter-approved ballot initiative Montana 2009 Court decision* Vermont 2013 Legislation California 2015 Legislation Colorado 2016 Voter-approved ballot initiative District of Columbia 2016 Legislation * A patient's request for physician-assisted suicide can be an affirma- tive defense for a physician who participates. Annals.orgAnnals of Internal Medicine•Vol. 167 No. 8•17 October 2017 Downloaded from https://annals.org by guest on 03/18/2020 Revisiting Physician-Assisted Suicide In 2001, the ACP published a position paper op- posing legalization of physician-assisted suicide (8).

The issue also has been considered every few years in theAmerican College of Physicians Ethics Manual, in- cluding the current edition (9). Given recent changes in the legal landscape, public interest in the topic, and continuing barriers to palliative and hospice care, an updated position paper is presented here. Within a framework that considers clinical practice, ethics, law, and policy, this paper provides background, discusses the role of palliative and hospice care, explores the na- ture of the patient–physician relationship and the dis- tinction between refusal of life-sustaining treatment and physician-assisted suicide, and provides recom- mendations for responding to patient requests for physician-assisted suicide.

The Context Physician-assisted suicide is medical help with a pa- tient's intentional act to end his or her own life (for ex- ample, an individual taking a lethal dose of medication prescribed by a physician for that purpose). It is ethi- cally, legally, and clinically different from patient refusal of life-sustaining treatment through the withdrawal or withholding of treatment. Physician-assisted suicide also differs from euthanasia, an act in which a physician intentionally terminates the life of a patient (such as by lethal injection), the purpose of which is to relieve pain or other suffering (8). Dictionaries define suicide as in- tentionally ending one's own life. Despite cultural and historical connotations, the term is neither disparaging nor a judgment. Terms for physician-assisted suicide, such as aid in dying, medical aid in dying, physician- assisted death, and hastened death, lump categories of action together, obscuring the ethics of what is at stake and making meaningful debate difficult; therefore, clar- ity of language is important.

Although suicide and attempted suicide have been decriminalized in the United States, assisting a suicide remains a statutory offense in most states. Euthanasia is illegal everywhere in the United States. In New Mexico, a lower-court decision authorized physician-assisted suicide, but it was struck down; like all appellate courts, the New Mexico Supreme Court ruled that there is no right to physician-assisted suicide. Elsewhere in the world, in 2015, the Parliament of the United Kingdom voted down a physician-assisted suicide bill, 330 to 118, and Canada legalized both physician-assisted sui- cide and euthanasia. In 2016, the Parliament of South Australia rejected a bill on euthanasia. Physician- assisted suicide and euthanasia are legal in the Nether- lands, Belgium, and Luxembourg; euthanasia is legal in Colombia; and Switzerland has decriminalized assisted suicide.Principles of Medical Ethics and Arguments, Pro and Con Medical ethics establishes the duties of physicians to patients and society, sometimes to a greater extent than the law (9). Physicians have duties to patients based on the ethical principles of beneficence (acting in the patient's best interest), nonmaleficence (avoiding or minimizing harm), respect for patient autonomy, and promotion of fairness and social justice (9). Medical ethics and the law strongly support a patient's right to refuse treatment, including life-sustaining treatment.

The intent is to avoid or withdraw treatment that the patient considers unduly burdensome and inconsistent with his or her health goals and preferences. Death fol- lows naturally after the refusal, due to the underlying disease (9).

Ethical arguments in support of physician-assisted suicide highlight the principle of respect for patient au- tonomy and a broad interpretation of a physician's duty to relieve suffering. The decision to intentionally end one's life is regarded as intensely private and therefore should not be prohibited (10). Seeking physician- assisted suicide is most frequently associated with con- cerns about loss of autonomy and control, decreasing ability to participate in enjoyable activities, and loss of dignity, rather than pain or other symptoms (21, 22).

For persons who seek this type of control, palliative and hospice care are not the issue—they often are already receiving those services. In Oregon, the state with the most experience, 1327 persons have obtained pre- scriptions for lethal doses of medications under the law since 1997; 859 died after taking the medication. Of 105 deaths during 2014, 68% occurred in persons older than 65 years, 95% were white, 56% were men, 48% were persons with a baccalaureate degree or higher, and 69% had cancer (21). More recent justifica- tions present physician-assisted suicide as a personal choice, avoiding discussion of important medical ethics considerations (11).

Proponents of physician-assisted suicide view it as an act of compassion that respects patient choice and fulfills an obligation of nonabandonment (11). In sup- port of legalization, they also argue that some patients receiving a lethal prescription ultimately do not use it.

In addition, some maintain that physician-assisted sui- cide already occurs where it is illegal (23), so legaliza- tion would result in standardization, transparency, and monitoring.

Opponents maintain that the profession's most consistent ethical traditions emphasize care and com- fort and that physicians should not participate in inten- tionally ending a person's life (12). Physician-assisted suicide requires physicians to breach specific prohibi- tions as well as the general duties of beneficence and nonmaleficence. Such breaches are viewed as inconsis- tent with the physician's role as healer and comforter Annals of Internal Medicine•Vol. 167 No. 8•17 October 2017Annals.org Downloaded from https://annals.org by guest on 03/18/2020 (13). Pronouncements against physician-assisted sui- cide date back to Hippocrates.

Opponents agree that patient autonomy is critical and must be respected but recognize that it is not ab- solute and must be balanced with other ethical princi- ples (9, 14). To do otherwise jeopardizes the physi- cian's ability to practice high-value care in the best interests of the patient, in a true patient–physician part- nership. Only by such a balance of ethical principles can physicians fulfill their duties, including those in more everyday encounters, such as when a physician advises against tests requested by a patient that are not medically indicated, declines to write illegal prescrip- tions, or breaches confidentiality to protect public health. It also undergirds the duty that physicians not engage in futile care (for example, care based on re- quests for nonindicated cardiopulmonary resuscitation or end-of-life treatment of brain-dead patients under an expansive view of patient autonomy). Physicians are members of a profession with ethical responsibilities; they are moral agents, not merely providers of services (15).

Death certificate requirements under physician- assisted suicide laws ask physicians to list the cause of death as the underlying illness, not the new pathology caused by ingestion of a lethal dose of medicine (24), which seems inconsistent with the physician's duty of honesty. Moreover, although individual physicians may decline to participate, conscientious objection to physician-assisted suicide does not address the funda- mental ethical objections to it.

The suffering of dying patients may be great; it is caused by somatic symptoms, such as pain and nausea; psychological conditions, such as depression and anx- iety; interpersonal suffering due to dependency or un- resolved conflict; or existential suffering based in hope- lessness, indignity, or the belief that one's life has ended in a biographical sense but has not yet ended biologically. For some patients, a sense of control over the manner and timing of death brings comfort. How- ever, is it reasonable to ask medicine to relieve all hu- man suffering? Just as medicine cannot eliminate death, medicine cannot relieve all human suffering; at- tempting to do so ultimately leads to bad medical care (25). Good medicine demands compassion for the dy- ing, but compassion also needs reason (26). Both pro- ponents and opponents wish to alleviate suffering of dying patients, and physicians have an ethical duty to provide competent palliative and hospice care (9).

However, is physician-assisted suicide a type of control over suffering and the dying process that is within the goals and scope of medicine?

Balancing respect for patient autonomy against other ethical principles reflects arguments about the nature of the patient–physician relationship, physicians' duties, and the role of the medical profession in soci-ety. In fact, one may argue that making physicians arbi- ters of assisted suicide is a return to paternalism and not a power physicians should want (27), that “the le- galization of physician-assisted suicide does not em- power patients; it empowers physicians” (28).

Legalization of physician-assisted suicide also raises social justice issues. Society and the medical pro- fession have duties to safeguard the patient–physician relationship and human dignity. These duties apply es- pecially to the most vulnerable members of society: the sick, the elderly, children, the disabled, the poor, mi- norities, and others. Some individuals might view them- selves as unproductive or burdensome and, on that ba- sis, as candidates for assisted suicide, especially if a physician raises it or validates a request. Physician- assisted suicide laws have been associated with a 6% increase in total suicides (15% in those older than 65 years) in the states where physician-assisted suicide is legal, controlling for state-specific time trends (29, 30).

Although a recent study did not find vulnerable groups being pressured to accept physician-assisted suicide, it did raise questions about a lack of data on complica- tions and on how many physicians may have assisted without reporting (31). Vulnerable communities and in- dividuals raise strong concerns that legalization leads to attitudinal changes, subtle biases about quality of life, and judgments that some lives are not worth living (32, 33). National disability groups are opposed to physician-assisted suicide (32, 34). One article reported various opinions among focus group participants (35).

Finally, advocating for physician-assisted suicide where there is no general right to health care and access to hospice and palliative care services is limited, espe- cially in an era of health care cost containment, is ironic (8).

Ethics and the Nature of the Patient–Physician Relationship The ACP's main concerns in this debate are ethical ones. The patient–physician relationship is inherently unequal. Physicians have specialized medical knowl- edge, training, experience, and prescribing powers that patients do not. Illness makes patients vulnerable (including physicians who are patients [36, 37]). Pa- tients disrobe, are examined, and disclose intimate in- formation to their physicians. The physician must earn the patient's trust, preserve his or her confidentiality, and act as a fiduciary. Physicians publicly profess that they will act for the benefit of their patients, putting patients' welfare and best interests first and helping them cope with illness, disability, suffering, and death.

The physician has a duty to respect the dignity and the cultural and spiritual uniqueness and traditions of every patient (9).

Physician-assisted suicide and euthanasia were common during the time of Hippocrates, leading to Annals.orgAnnals of Internal Medicine•Vol. 167 No. 8•17 October 2017 Downloaded from https://annals.org by guest on 03/18/2020 their specific prohibition in the Hippocratic Oath (38).

Together with the prohibition of sexual relationships between physicians and patients and the duty to main- tain patient confidentiality, the Oath provides a context for a therapeutic alliance to prevent the exploitation of patient relationships.

The Hippocratic Oath, of course, is not followed word for word today; however, it has been analyzed and applied over time in light of its fundamental prin- ciples. Acting in the best interests of the patient and recognizing the special nature of the patient–physician relationship, principles and prohibitions set ethical boundaries to prevent misunderstandings and misuse of medical authority. These boundaries encourage pa- tients to be open and honest regarding intimate health matters in a safe space, in the context of a trusted relationship.

Physicians can influence patients, even in ways phy- sicians may not appreciate. Patients seeking physician- assisted suicide may seek validation to end their lives.

Indeed, studies have shown that socially isolated, vul- nerable persons seek social support and contact through visits with their physicians (16). Physicians may influence patients based on their own fears of death and disability (39). Evidence also suggests that many physicians who participate in physician-assisted suicide are adversely affected by the experience (40). Some commentators question whether assisted suicide needs to be physician assisted and whether others might pro- vide assistance instead (41).

The Ethics of Refusal of Treatment and Providing Symptom Control: A Closer Look at Intent and Causation For decades, the consensus has been that after a careful weighing of patient autonomy, beneficence, nonmaleficence, and societal interests, a patient may forgo life-sustaining treatment. Although Hippocratic writings explicitly proscribe euthanasia and physician- assisted suicide, they deem treatment abatement ethi- cally appropriate in patients who are “overmastered by disease” (42). Although some lower courts have ques- tioned the importance of this distinction (43), the U.S.

Supreme Court has distinguished the refusal of treat- ment from suicide (44, 45). Withdrawal of treatment based on patient wishes respects the patient's bodily integrity and right to be free of unwanted treatment.

Physician-assisted suicide and euthanasia are interven- tions done with the intent to end the patient's life (46, 47). This distinction is ethically and legally important (9).

Some argue that withdrawing treatment on the ba- sis of patient wishes—an omission, such as forgoing a mechanical ventilator in a patient with respiratory fail- ure—and prescribing a lethal dose of medicine for the patient's use—a commission—are equivalent, becausethey both are acts that lead to the patient's death. How- ever, commission (doing something) versus omission (not doing something) is not alone determinative. With- drawing ventilator support is an act, but the act merely removes an intervention that prevented a preexisting illness from running its course. The aim of the act is not to terminate the patient's life (47). Intent and causation are critical factors in distinguishing physician-assisted suicide from withdrawal of life-sustaining treatment.

Death may be accelerated if a patient requests withdrawal of a life-sustaining treatment and that re- quest is carried out. However, the patient could have refused the treatment when it was originally offered; therefore, he or she may request its withdrawal after it is started. If not for the intervention to which the patient consented, death would have occurred as a result of the underlying disease. As the International Association for Hospice and Palliative Care, citing the European As- sociation for Palliative Care, stated, “Withholding or withdrawing ineffective, futile, burdensome, and un- necessary life-prolonging procedures or treatments does not constitute euthanasia or PAS [physician- assisted suicide] because it is not intended to hasten death, but rather indicate the acceptance of death as a natural consequence of the underlying disease pro- gression” (48).

The intent of treatment refusal is freedom from an unwanted intervention. A natural death follows due to the underlying disease (in fact, imposing unwanted treatment is a bodily invasion and is considered uneth- ical and an illegal battery). In contrast, if a person dis- connects a ventilator without patient consent and the patient subsequently dies, that person has acted wrongly. In both instances, the patient dies after with- drawal of life-sustaining treatment, but in very different ways under ethics and the law. Death by medication overdose is not a natural death due to an underlying medical condition.

Research advances have introduced new life- sustaining technologies into clinical practice. For exam- ple, many patients have life-sustaining devices, such as pacemakers, implantable cardioverter-defibrillators, and ventricular assist devices. Physicians inevitably en- counter patients whose underlying disease no longer is being treated effectively by the device or who have a terminal illness the device cannot treat (such as cancer).

Desiring a natural death, patients or their surrogates may request withdrawal of therapies delivered by these devices. In these situations, the death that follows is due to the underlying heart disease or other comorbid conditions (49, 50). Physicians should honor these re- quests. However, without a firm line drawn between withdrawal of life-sustaining treatment and physician- assisted suicide, or because of confusion between the two, some physicians might consider discontinuation of these therapies as intentional killing and refuse to im- Annals of Internal Medicine•Vol. 167 No. 8•17 October 2017Annals.org Downloaded from https://annals.org by guest on 03/18/2020 plement such requests. Patients and families often, but not always, see the line.

Intent and causation also are critical factors in pro- viding pain or symptom relief. Competent provision of symptom control is an ethical duty (9). Patients often fear the prospect of unrelieved pain. Some physicians withhold pain medication because of ungrounded con- cerns that higher doses may accelerate death through respiratory suppression or that the patient may become addicted to the medication. Appropriate pain relief, however, rarely results in either (51, 52), and patients and families need to understand this (52). Under the rule of double effect, strong ethical support exists for increasing pain medication for terminally ill patients if the intent is to relieve pain, even if it might shorten life (9, 53, 54).

The rule of double effect holds that an action un- dertaken with the intent of achieving a benefit is mor- ally acceptable even if it has a harmful side effect, pro- vided that the harmful side effect is not intended, the side effect is not the cause of the benefit, and the ben- efit outweighs the harm. Vigorous management of pain and symptoms, such as dyspnea and nausea, at the end of life is ethical, even if the risk for shortening life is foreseeable, if the intent is to relieve those symptoms.

The beneficial effects are pain and symptom control; the rare but potential harmful effect is respiratory sup- pression, but it is not intended. If the intent was to cause death, or to cause death to relieve pain, it would not be permissible. Likewise, it would not be in keeping with the rule of double effect to use pain control to “treat” loneliness, depression, being tired of living, or existential suffering.

Law and Ethics: U.S. Supreme Court Decisions on Assisted Suicide Although the language of rights is sometimes in- voked, there is no right to physician-assisted suicide in the United States. In fact, in landmark decisions, the U.S. Supreme Court overruled 2 lower courts that had found a constitutional right (45, 55). The lower-court rulings differed in important ways. InCompassion in Dying v. Washington(56), the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit had held that persons have a right to choose how and when they die. As applied to the lim- ited circumstance of the competent, terminally ill adult who wants a physician's prescription for a lethal dose of medication, the Washington State criminal statute ban- ning physician-assisted suicide was found unconstitu- tional as a violation of the Due Process Clause of the 14th Amendment, which says a state may not “deprive any person of life, liberty, or property without due pro- cess of law.” In contrast, inQuill v. Vacco(43), the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit specifically declined to “identify a new fundamental right.” It said a New Yorklaw was unconstitutional on much narrower grounds, as a violation of the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment, because competent patients at the end of life were being treated differently: Some patients could refuse life-sustaining treatment and thereby accelerate death, but others were prohibited from seeking pre- scriptions from physicians to hasten death. The Equal Protection Clause says that no state shall “deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.” The U.S. Supreme Court found both lower-court decisions unpersuasive. Instead, it found refusal of treatment and physician-assisted suicide to be very dif- ferent. Refusal of treatment, the Court concluded, means being free of the bodily invasion of unwanted medical treatment—a right to be left alone, not a rightto something. This is a “negative right”—a form of right of which Americans have many—and differs from a posi- tive right to secure assistance to kill oneself and control the manner and timing of death. Lending support to the rule of double effect, Justice Sandra Day O’Connor pointed out in her concurring opinion that vigorous pain control for the dying is ethical and available: “...a patient who is suffering from a terminal illness and who is experiencing great pain has no legal barriers to ob- taining medication, from qualified physicians, to allevi- ate that suffering, even to the point of causing uncon- sciousness and hastening death.” This would include what some refer to as palliative sedation or terminal sedation, although a more accurate term would be double-effect sedation.

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that there is no con- stitutional right to assisted suicide and that states may prohibit it. However, the Court also left open the pos- sibility that individual states could legalize it.

Slippery Slopes Although the ACP's fundamental concerns are based on ethical principles, research suggests that a “slippery slope” exists in jurisdictions where physician- assisted suicide and euthanasia are legal. In the Neth- erlands, requests are granted for patients whose “med- ical condition” is categorized as “tired of living.” Many patients report “loneliness” and “psychological suffer- ing” as symptoms (57). One study found that persons receiving euthanasia or physician-assisted suicide in the Netherlands for psychiatric disorders were mostly women with complex and chronic psychiatric, medical, and psychosocial histories, and disagreement about patient eligibility among physicians was not unusual (58, 59). In Oregon, referrals for psychiatric evaluations have been infrequent (60); in 2014, only 3 of 105 per- sons who died under the law were referred for formal psychiatric or psychological evaluation. In a study from Belgium, death by euthanasia increased from 2% in 2007 to 5% in 2013. Similarly, approvals of euthanasia Annals.orgAnnals of Internal Medicine•Vol. 167 No. 8•17 October 2017 Downloaded from https://annals.org by guest on 03/18/2020 requests increased from 55% in 2007 to 77% in 2013 (61). An editorial said these trends were “worrisome” and “require that [the slippery-slope concern] be taken very seriously” (62).

A recent review found that safeguards and controls in jurisdictions where physician-assisted suicide and eu- thanasia are legal are not always followed (63), and concerns have been raised about underreporting (31).

Subtle long-term changes in attitudes are difficult to detect. For example, although only a small number of persons have requested physician-assisted suicide in Oregon, as noted earlier, questions arise regarding whether that fact lessens these and other concerns.

Limiting physician-assisted suicide to the terminally ill is said to be a safeguard, but prognostication raises practical concerns. Laws such as Oregon's require a consultation from a second physician to confirm the di- agnosis and prognosis. However, predicting how long a terminally ill patient will live or to what extent cogni- tive capacity will be impaired by disease or injury often is difficult. In addition, many patients do not have long- standing relationships with physicians who know them well. Furthermore, current safeguards are likely to be challenged. Restricting physician-assisted suicide to terminally ill adults with decision-making capacity raises legal concerns about arbitrary discrimination (64). Fair- ness, it may be argued, would require granting access to decisionally incapable and non–terminally ill per- sons. Also, because some patients cannot take pills, ar- bitrary discrimination could be asserted, unless the practice is broadened from physician-assisted suicide to euthanasia.

Dying Well: Moving From Medicalization to Personalization of Death Is a medicalized death a good death? Have we al- ready gone too far down a path in which dying patients receive unwanted technology in the intensive care unit while their family members are regarded as “visitors”?

Is the solution medicalization of death through medica- tion overdose? Physician-assisted suicide is not a ther- apy. It runs counter to the goal of the patient rights movement to empower patients to experience a more natural death.

Medicalizing death does not address the needs of dying patients and their families. What is needed is care that emphasizescaringin the last phase of life, facilitating a natural dying process, and humanizing in- stitutions that are used only when those settings are unavoidable. The 3 Wishes Project shows how even simple, nontechnologic approaches in the hospital in- tensive care unit can improve care, ease dying, en- hance dignity, and give voice to patients and families while deepening the sense of vocation among clini- cians (65). The 3 Wishes researchers said the project:. . . aimed to integrate palliative care and spir- itual care into critical care practice. Eliciting and honoring wishes fostered a community of caring, promoting patient- and family- centeredness as a core component of palliative care. It encouraged the verbalization and real- ization of unmet spiritual needs, whether secu- lar or faith-based. Our findings underscore the drive that we all have to search for meaning, memories, and closure in anticipation of death while helping to create preparedness, comfort, and connections during the dying process.

(65) In “A Modern Ars Moriendi,” a physician recounts the death of her rancher father, noting the challenges they faced trying to refuse hospital treatment. Ulti- mately, his wishes were met by going home and chang- ing the “focus from life-prolonging technology to life- enriching community” (66). Earlier hospice care, avoiding the intensive care unit in the last month of life, and experiencing death at home are associated with family perceptions of better care for cancer patients (67). Studies have found regional variations in end-of- life care, with “little relationship to patient preference,” but some evidence of lower-intensity care when the pri- mary care physician is more involved in care (68). Lon- gitudinal relationships should be valued and supported by health care systems and payers.

Home is where most patients want to die (69), and even the discontinuation of ventilators (70) or implant- able cardiac devices (71) can be done compassionately and effectively at home with hospice care. This ap- proach is more patient centered and a better use of resources when hospital care is not truly necessary. This is the control the medical profession can and should give patients and their families. Dying well requires sci- ence and an art of caring for the dying.

Medicine's Role in a Societal Decision The ACP recognizes that some patient cases will be medically and ethically challenging, that autonomy- based arguments in support of legalization of physician-assisted suicide are compelling, and that some might find physician-assisted suicide justifiable in rare circumstances. Patients have the ultimate authority over their lives, but whether physicians should assist them in carrying out suicide is another matter.

Despite changes in the legal and political land- scape, the ethical arguments against legalization of physician-assisted suicide remain the most compelling.

We are mindful that ethics is not merely a matter for a vote. Majority support of a practice does not make it ethical. Medical history provides several cautionary ex- amples of laws and practices in the United States (such as racial segregation of hospital wards) that were widely endorsed but very problematic.

Annals of Internal Medicine•Vol. 167 No. 8•17 October 2017Annals.org Downloaded from https://annals.org by guest on 03/18/2020 Furthermore, the ACP does not believe neutrality on this controversial issue is appropriate. The medical profession should not be neutral regarding matters of medical ethics (9). The ACP is not neutral on practices that affect the patient–physician relationship and trust in the profession, such as laws that restrict or mandate discussions with, or certain recommendations for, pa- tients. According to theAmerican College of Physicians Ethics Manual, physicians have a duty to come forward, to “clearly articulate the ethical principles that guide their behavior in clinical care, research, and teaching, or as citizens or collectively as members of the profes- sion. It is crucial that a responsible physician perspec- tive be heard as societal decisions are made” (9).

A few patients want to control the timing and man- ner of death; many more are fearful of what living the last phase of life with serious illness will be like. To the extent that the debate about legalizing physician- assisted suicide is a dilemma because of the failings of medicine to adequately provide comfort and good care to dying patients, medicine should do better. Le- galized physician-assisted suicide medicalizes suicide (72). Physician-assisted suicide is not a private act but a social one, with effects on family, community, and society.

Responding to Patient Requests for Assisted Suicide Etymologically, to be compassionate means to “suffer with” another person; remaining with a dying patient is the essence of nonabandonment (73). When the patient's suffering is interpersonal, existential, or spiritual, care coordination is necessary, and the roles of the physician are to remain present; provide com- passionate care; and enlist the support of social work- ers, psychologists, hospice volunteers, chaplains, and family in addressing sources of suffering that are be- yond the scope of medical care.

Regardless of jurisdiction, physicians may encoun- ter patients who request physician-assisted suicide (or express fear of suffering with death). Patient concerns and reasons for the request should be discussed thor- oughly. As for all patients nearing the end of life, the physician should:

1. Be present (74), listening to the patient and keeping dialogue open, exploring the reasons for the request, trying to understand its meaning and seeking alternative solutions where possible.

2. Affirm that he or she will care for and not aban- don the patient, accompanying and advising the pa- tient through the journey of end-of-life care (studies suggest “the desire to hasten death is future focused and appears to be related to fear of distress and not coping, rather than with current levels of distress or coping ability” [75]).3. Discuss patient goals of care and the nature of curative and comfort care, explaining a both/and ap- proach to disease-oriented and palliative care as well as an either/or approach and asking, for example, how do you hope I can help you?

4. Facilitate advance care planning and an under- standing of surrogate decision making, as desired by the patient.

5. Ensure that the patient is fully informed of the right to refuse treatments and what that entails.

6. Discontinue or do not start medications and in- terventions that interfere with the patient's values, goals, and preferences.

7. Assess and treat the patient's pain and other dis- tressing physical and psychological symptoms.

8. Assess and optimize patient function through a whole-patient focus.

9. Coordinate, as desired by the patient, the efforts of other members of the health care team, and use community-based resources to address financial, emo- tional, and spiritual burdens on the patient and family.

10. Prepare the patient and family for what they can expect as illness progresses, addressing uncertainty to- gether and ensuring that the patient and family have informed expectations, including, for example, an un- derstanding that advanced illness often entails a natu- ral loss of appetite and thirst.

11. Regularly assess the patient's status and decision-making capacity.

12. Arrange hospice care at home if that is the pa- tient's preference, being cognizant that palliative and hospice care expertise should be used as early as is indicated. Many patients in the United States receive such care too late or not at all.

Requests for physician-assisted suicide are unlikely to persist when compassionate supportive care is pro- vided (76, 77). However, providing this care may be challenging, especially in today's time-pressured health care environment. It requires us to reflect and act on “ . . . the original purpose of physicians' work: to wit- ness others' suffering and provide comfort and care. . . the privilege at the heart of the medical profes- sion” (78).

Physicians should consult with colleagues in caring for the patient and family but also seek support for themselves. According to Kearney and colleagues, “Self-care is an essential part of the therapeutic man- date” (79). Collegial support also reinforces better care of the patient and family. Describing a phone conver- sation with a colleague about the shared care of a pa- tient, a physician reflects that it was, “A call whose sole but worthy purpose was to say, ‘I feel powerless, and I know you do, too, so let's talk this over.’” Yet, it “...al- lowed two physicians to share. . . and reconcile to the inevitable. All too often, we announce our triumphs but camouflage our losses, as if the death of a patient rep- Annals.orgAnnals of Internal Medicine•Vol. 167 No. 8•17 October 2017 Downloaded from https://annals.org by guest on 03/18/2020 resents a personal failure. In hindsight, acknowledging the impending loss enabled appropriate palliation for the patient and timely pastoral care for her hus- band...”(80).

The need to ensure the central role of families in care; provision of consistent, high-quality care; and ed- ucation, training, and support of physicians were iden- tified as overarching themes in a series of reports on end-of-life care recently issued by the British Medical Association (81). The British Medical Association and Australian Medical Association both reaffirmed opposi- tion to legalization of physician-assisted suicide and eu- thanasia in 2016.

Conclusion The art of medicine is arguably most needed as patients live out the last phase of life. Society's goal should be to make dying less, not more, medical. The ACP affirms a professional responsibility to improve the care of dying patients and their families.

The ACP does not support the legalization of physician-assisted suicide, the practice of which raises ethical, clinical, and other concerns. The ACP and its members, including those who might lawfully partici- pate in the practice, should ensure that all persons can rely on high-quality care through to the end of life, with prevention or relief of suffering insofar as possible, a commitment to human dignity and the management of pain and other symptoms, and support for family. Phy- sicians and patients must continue to search together for answers to the challenges posed by living with seri- ous illness before death (9).

Control over the manner and timing of a person's death has not been and should not be a goal of medi- cine. However, through high-quality care, effective communication, compassionate support, and the right resources, physicians can help patients control many aspects of how they live out life's last chapter. Through- out patients' lives, including as they face death, medi- cine must strive to give patients the care, respect, and comfort they deserve.

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