Pros & Cons of Physician-Assisted Suicide & Euthanasia

104 Haven Avenue,New York NY 10032

15 February, 2023

Description

Lecture 5 - 6:15 PM, reception to follow. VEC 401 Physician-assisted suicide refers to the voluntary termination of one’s own life by ingestion of a lethal drug prescribed by a physician. It is legal in 10 US states and Washington DC, as well as in a number of countries around the world, including Canada. Euthanasia refers to the injection of a lethal drug by a physician at a patient’s request with the aim of ending the patient’s life. It is illegal in the US but legal in a number of countries around the world. Physician and ethicist Dr. Lydia Dugdale will provide an overview of these practices and discuss the strongest arguments both for and against legalization. Lydia Dugdale, MD, MAR (ethics), is the Dorothy L. and Daniel H. Silberberg Associate Professor of Medicine at Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons and Director of the Center for Clinical Medical Ethics. She also serves as Associate Director of Clinical Ethics at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Columbia University Irving Medical Center. A practicing internist, Dugdale moved to Columbia in 2019 from Yale University, where she previously served as Associate Director of the Program for Biomedical Ethics. Her scholarship focuses on end-of-life issues, medical ethics, the role of aesthetics in teaching ethics, and the doctor-patient relationship. She edited Dying in the Twenty-First Century (MIT Press, 2015) and is author of The Lost Art of Dying (HarperOne, 2020), a popular press book on the preparation for death. Dugdale attended medical school at the University of Chicago and completed her residency training at Yale-New Haven Hospital. Non-CUID members must bring proof of vaccination to enter building. Please email [email protected] if you have any questions.