In 1990 Terri Schiavo had severe brain damage when her heart temporarily stopped beating. In 1998, her husband petitioned to have her feeding tube removed while her parents fought to have it retained.
The lower federal courts supported the spouse's position as decision maker, and her feeding tube was removed in March 2005. She died, but the case left open issues on the right to die.
California introduced in 2005, Assembly Bill 651, Compassionate Choices Act. The bill would authorize an adult who meets certain requirements to make a request for medication for the purpose of ending his/her life.
Like Oregon's Death with Dignity Act, there is debate on the regulation of doctors who give prescriptions that assist suicide to individuals who may merely be suffering from depression.
This is why those who are suffering from mental illness should be careful as to the means of seeking treatment. Most doctors who advocate lethal prescriptions conduct cursory examinations and are not involved with long-term patient relationships. In Oregon, from 1988-2004, half the cases involved doctors who knew the patients less than three months. According to the Oregon Department of Human Sevices, some doctors prescribed lethal medications for patients they knew for just a few days or not at all.
Clearly, there are doctors who may not care to actual know the emotional status of patients, and do not mind prescribing wrongful medications to patients since they look at them as strangers.
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