annotated bibliography

Couric, Katie. “Issues That Divide: Assisted Death” CBS Evening News. 24 November 2004.
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/11/24/eveningnews/main657749.shtml
I will use this site as a specific case of assisted death. This can help me to explore the future risks of having it legalized. The article reviews a case from over 4 years ago, when a woman, who was terminally ill, was assisted to death through medications. This news story is probably very widespread and most likely takes a mostly unbiased stance towards the topic. This article didn’t alter my viewpoint because it doesn’t completely take a stance.

Braddock, Clarence. “Physician-Assisted Suicide.” Ethics in Medecine. University of Washington School of Medecine (1998)
http://depts.washington.edu/bioethx/topics/pas.html
This site will help me become more familiar with terminology and different aspects of my topic. I will most likely not use quotes from it, but I can use for my knowledge. Specifically it contains the definition of the topic, my topic compared to euthanasia, and arguments in favor and against the topic. This should help me learn basic facts about the issue that I didn’t know before.

Humphry, Derek. “Tread Carefully When You Help to Die.” World Right-to-Die Newsletter #41, June 2002
http://assistedsuicide.org/suicide_laws.html
This site covers the details of a case. This site will be very useful because it views the issue in a different side than the stance then I plan to take so it will help me find arguments to counter. It is the story of an 85 years old woman who had a painful and terminal disease. This story ultimately leads to a court case involving her family who had aided in the death. This leads to the issue of legality and constitutional rights.

Miller, Franklin; Meier, Diane. “Voluntary Death.” Annals of Internal Medecine.128.7 (1998) (559-562)
http://www.annals.org/cgi/content/full/128/7/559
This site explains a method of assisted suicide, in which the patient in theory controls his/her own death. It compares and contrasts assisted suicide to terminal dehydration. I would use this information to explain the potential risks and benefits or assisted suicide, by comparing it to another method. The target audience is other doctors. Therefore the information is most likely very detailed and factual rather then opinionated and unclear.

Ontario Consultants. “Physician Assisted Suicide.” Religious Tolerance. 2007 http://www.religioustolerance.org/euth_us3.htm
This website article will be very helpful for my paper. It goes in detail about the actual court case that took place in regard to my topic; it explains the Pain- Relief Promotion Act and other acts pertaining to the topic and lastly, statistics about what physicians would do when put in potential assisted death situations. The last set of information would really help to show that the act would either be taking place anyway or on the other hand, that not one doctor would actual do it.

Board of Directors. “Physician Assisted Death.” American Academy of Hospice and Palliative Medicine. February 14, 2007
http://www.aahpm.org/positions/suicide.html
American Academy of Hospice and Palliative Medicine (AAHPM) believes in continuing treatment of an illness, until a patient desires to end his/her life or until he/she can take the pill by his/her own hand. This is clearly a biased article, which I could not use for facts but rather reasoning towards one side. The essay is displayed on the site of an organization which provides people with the resources for obtaining PAS. Therefore, the target audience is most likely those who are for legalizing PAS.

Quill TE, Battin MP.eds. “Physician-Assisted Dying, The Case for Palliative Care and Patient Choice.” Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2004.
This article explores the right for patient choice. It explains the actual legal rights and compares it to the constitution and present laws that are in place. The target audience is potentially those who are trying to read up on specifics about the law because it provides mostly legal facts. This article would be useful for listing facts because it doesn’t seem to be biased in way; rather it simply displays the facts. This would be useful to me when describing the issue in my first essay.

Robinson, Bruce. “Physician Assisted Suicide: Court Activity, Recent US Developments.” Religious Tolerance .org (1997)
http://www.religioustolerance.org/euth_us3.htm
This online essay provides a bias opinion towards assisted death. The site is that of a religious group that believes that PAS shouldn’t be legalized for moral reasons. This would be useful to either sway my opinion in the future, or provide arguments to counter. The target audience is probably those that are part of the religious group and want more information about the topic, or for people who want to get advice on whether or not it would be morally right to carry out this act on a loved one or self.