Compassionate Use Act: A Case Study

According to the American Medical Association (1996), physician-assisted suicide (PAS) occurs when a physician facilitates a patient’s death by providing either the means or the information necessary to aid in the patient performing the life-ending act. PAS has had a long and controversial history dating back to the ancient Greeks and Romans. They believed that there was no reason to prolong life if continued pain and suffering was the only prognosis. The term euthanasia, in fact, stems from the Greek meaning "a good death". It was not until Hippocrates and his Hippocratic Oath, cautioning against deadly medicine towards patients, that a different view was seen.

The Americans with Disabilities Act has come a long way with helping to protect and obtaining justice for the disable opening the door for jobs and creating more adequate access to public spaces to an estimated 43 million disabled people however, corrective disabilities are more of a challenge. People whose disabilities that can be remedied with eyeglasses, medications, etc. are not covered by the ADA (Post, 1999). Justice Sandra Day O’Conner supports this action and wrote three provisions that led to the conclusion that remediable conditions are not a disability (Post, 1999).

The Supremacy Clause: Conflict between Federal and State Law as it relates to Medical Marijuana

The recent decision by British Parliament to overwhelmingly reject the right to die law that would have allowed terminally ill adults to end their lives with medical supervision preserves the Suicide Act 1961 that protects vulnerable people from exploitation and abuse by those who might have an interest, financial or otherwise, in their deaths.

Since 1937, when the Marijuana Tax Act was passed, federal law has prohibited the medical and recreational use of Marijuana. This act banned its production and use in all states. In 2012, however, Colorado and Washington legalized recreational use of marijuana, becoming the first states to do so. This was a very controversial decision on the states’ part, and it created a debate between the two levels of government. The main cause was the issues of federalism and supremacy. While under the supremacy clause the federal government's law takes precedence to the state law, there is also a debate on which level of government, federal or state, should handle the issue of marijuana legalization. The complexity of federalism is shown very well here

Understanding the difference between state and federal courts is important. First off, we know that this case is a matter of the federal courts for two main reasons; (1) the original offense of manufacturing marijuana is an offense against the laws of the United States, making it a federal crime and (2) by statute the district courts have original jurisdiction to try tort cases involving citizens who suffer damages caused by officers or agents of the federal government. Because agents of the federal government offended Mr. Kyllo’s constitutional right, this was indeed under federal jurisdiction. Therefore, this case is decided using federal substantive law.

Issue? Was the exchange of a firearm for drugs applicable under the federal law against the use of a firearm in the commission of a drug offense.

Dignity in Dying is a national campaign and membership organisation, advocating a change in the law on assisted dying. A change to the existing law would allow terminally ill people who are considered mentally competent to decide when to end their lives. Essentially, this would mean that a dying patient would be able to request life ending medication from their doctor, thus enabling them to make a decision when and how they would die.

A controversy arose between Ogden, who had obtained the license from Fulton and Livingston, and Gibbons, who had obtained his license through the United States government. Ogden petitioned the New York Court to “enjoin” Gibbons, his formal partner, from continuing with this business in that state. The Court favored Ogden and granted the injunction and Gibbons appealed to the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court upheld the right for Congress to have vast powers. According to the Supreme Court, Congress can regulate who can enter into a monopoly and this case made a distinction between interstate and intrastate within a state. Although the federal government has not been specifically delegated the power to regulate commerce within a certain state that does not mean that the federal government cannot regulate a states commerce. When the Commerce Clause has a broad interpretation, intrastate regulations are often included. Commerce is more than just buying or selling; it is intercoursing, which according to this case does include such stipulations as navigation. Interpreting commerce in a broad sense has thus established what is known as a Federal police power. Police powers refer to or identify the inherent authority of the state government to regulate individually liberty, freedom for health and welfare and safety. The Federal government does not have police power, but it can be seen as evidence in this case how the Federal

A woman suffering from cancer became the first person known to die under the law on physician-assisted suicide in the state of Oregon when she took a lethal dose of drugs in March, 1998. The Oregon Death with Dignity Act passed a referendum in November, 1997, and it has been the United States ' only law legalizing assisted suicide since then. According to the New England Journal of Medicine, more than 4,000 doctors have approved of the assisted suicide law (cited in "The Anguish of Doctors,” 1996). The law allows terminally ill patients who have been given six months or less to live and wish to hasten their deaths to obtain medication prescribed by two doctors. The most important thing to notice is that this law does not include those who have been on a life support system nor does it include those who have not voluntarily asked physicians to help them commit suicide. The issue of doctor-assisted suicide has been the subject of the heated dispute in recent years. Many people worry that legalizing doctor assisted suicide is irrational and violates the life-saving tradition of medicine. However, physician-assisted suicide should be legalized because it offers terminally ill people an opportunity for a peaceful death and recognized the inadequacy of current medical practice to deal with death.

In Emerson's claim that the Commerce Clause was violated, he argued that the Act did not regulate commercial activity, and was therefore an unconstitutional use of congressional power. In claiming this, Emerson looked to the Supreme Court's holding in United States v. Lopez, however, the District Court dismissed this claim, citing a Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals decision which examined the validity of 18 U.S.C. § 922 (g)(8) under a Commerce Clause challenge, in which it held that the Act was constitutional (United 3). Because of this ruling (in United States v. Pierson), the District Court

The Federal District court denied this motion to suppress the block of methamphetamine and prosecuted Bond finding him guilty of conspiracy to possess and possession with intent to distribute. Moreover, Bond challenged the judgment made on the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit on grounds that the court should have granted his motion to suppress the evidence since it was a violation of his right under the Fourth Amendment and because as per the petitioner, Bond, the officer had manipulated the bag in a way that other passengers would not have. The United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit rejected his argument and affirmed the lower court’s

the case was heard by a Federal court because there was a clear and legitimate question on

First, Connecticut pro-choice supporters attempted to legalize the Death with Dignity Act three times since 2013, as they believe competent, terminally ill individuals in Connecticut should have the legal right to choose medically assisted death. Unfortunately, this legislation has not come to a vote in Connecticut; however, each time more people are supportive of the bill. The last Quinnipiac University Poll, completed in March 2015, has shown that by more than a 2-1 margin (63% vs. 31%), Connecticut voters support “allowing doctors to legally prescribe lethal drugs to help terminally ill patients end their lives” (C&C, Oregon, 2016). The “Death with Dignity Act” originated in Oregon, in 1997 with enough support to be the first state to pass the new law. Washington passed a similar law eleven years later, in 2008. Additionally, Colorado has been the most recent state to have this law passed on November 8, 2016. All the states have modeled after Oregon’s Death with Dignity Act. Specifically, the law states that the person must be terminally ill with less than six months to live, also be at least eighteen

1. Prepare a brief situational analysis of LMF for Dr. Townsend, identifying at least 3 internal issues and 3 external issue/competitive issues that are affecting LMF.