Note: The listing on this page of any particular work does not constitute our endorsement thereof; these resources are provided strictly for information purposes.

This list of peer-reviewed journal articles about physician-assisted dying and related issues is organized by topic:

  • Implementation of Legislation 
  • Legal Challenges to Legislation 
  • Death with Dignity Laws and End-of-Life Care
    • Palliative Sedation and Voluntary Stopping of Eating and Drinking
  • Ethics of Death with Dignity and People with Disabilities
  • Other Related Topics 
Implementation of Legislation

“Trends in Medical Aid in Dying in Oregon and Washington.” August 2019. Luai Al Rabadi, MD,  Michael LeBlanc, PhD, Taylor Bucy, BS, et al. JAMA Network Open

“Responding to Requests for Aid-in-Dying: Rethinking the Role of Conscience.” Spring 2019. Elizabeth R. Brassfield, Manisha Mishra, Mara Buchbinder. Narrative Inquiry in Bioethics, Volume 9, Number 1, pp. 67-72

“How Should Organized Medicine Respond to Physician-Assisted Death?” February 2019. Mark Moran. Psychiatric News Vol. 54. No. 3.

“Health Care Providers’ Experiences with Implementing Medical Aid-in-Dying in Vermont: a Qualitative Study.” January 2019. Mara Buchbinder,PhD, Elizabeth R. Brassfield, MA, Manisha Mishra, BA. Journal of General Internal Medicine Vol. 34.

“Characterizing Kaiser Permanente Southern California’s Experience With the California End of Life Option Act in the First Year of Implementation.” December 2018. Huong Nguyen, Eduard Gelman, Tracey Bush, Janet S. Lee, M. Kanter. JAMA Internal Medicine 

“Assisted Suicide/Aid in Dying: What Is the Nurse’s Role?” May 2018. Ann B. Hamric, PhD, Judith K. Schwarz, PhD, Lewis Cohen, MD, Margaret Mahon, PhD. American Journal of Nursing, Vol. 118, No. 5, pp. 50-59.

“Early Experience With the California End of Life Option Act: Balancing Institutional Participation and Physician Conscientious Objection.” May 2017. Stephanie M. Harman, David Magnus. JAMA Internal Medicine

“The challenge of new legislation on physician-assisted death.” April 2016. Linda Ganzini, Anthony Back. JAMA Vol. 176 No 4, pp. 427–428.

“Characterizing 18 Years of the Death With Dignity Act in Oregon.” April 6, 2017. Charles Blanke, Michael LeBlanc, PhD, Dawn Hershman, MD, Lee Ellis, MD, Frank Meyskens, MD. JAMA Oncology

“Lessons from Oregon in Embracing Complexity in End-of-Life Care.” March 2017. Susan W. Tolle, MD, Joan M. Teno, MD. New England Journal of Medicine, No. 376. pp. 1078-1082. 

Write-up of the study in Kaiser Health News

“Death with dignity in Washington patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.” October 2016. Leo H. Wang et al. Neurology Vol. 87, No. 20, pp. 2117-2122

“Drug Price Inflation and the Cost of Assisted Death for Terminally Ill Patients—Death With Indignity.” October 6, 2016. Veena Shankaran, MD, MS,Richard J. LaFrance, PharmD, Scott D. Ramsey, MD, PhD. JAMA Oncology.

“When a Patient Discusses Assisted Dying: Nursing Practice Implications.” July 2016. Rebecca H. Lehto, PhD, Douglas P. Olsen, PhD, Roxanne Raffin Chan, PhD. Journal of Hospice and Palliative Nursing, Vol. 18, No. 3, pp. 184-191

“Attitudes and Practices of Euthanasia and Physician-Assisted Suicide in the United States, Canada, and Europe.” July 2016. Ezekiel J. Emanuel, Bregje D. Onwuteaka-Philipsen, John W. Urwin, Joachim Cohen. JAMA, Vol. 316, No. 1 [Summary by Science Daily]

“Legalised Physician-Assisted Death in Oregon.” January 2016. Linda Ganzini. QUT Law Review, Vol. 16, No. 1, pp 76-83 

“Responding to Patients Requesting Physician-Assisted Death: Physician Involvement at the Very End of Life.” January 19, 2016. Timothy E. Quill, Anthony L. Back, Susan D. Block, JAMA Vol. 315 No. 3, pp. 245-246

“Clinical Criteria for Physician Assisted Aid in Dying.” November 2015. David Orentlicher, MD,  Thaddeus Mason Pope, JD, and Ben A. Rich, JD. Journal of Palliative Medicine, Vol. 18, No. X, pp. 1-4

“Psychiatric evaluations for individuals requesting assisted death in Washington and Oregon should not be mandatory.” 2014. Linda Ganzini. General Hospital Psychiatry, Vol 36.

“Dignity, Death, and Dilemmas: A Study of Washington Hospices and Physician-Assisted Death.” January 2014. Courtney S. Campbell, PhD, Margaret A. Black, BS. Journal of Pain and Symptom Management. Volume 47, Issue 1, pp. 137–153

“Implementing a Death with Dignity Program at a Comprehensive Cancer Center.” April 11, 2013. Elizabeth Trice Loggers, MD, Helene Starks, PhD, Moreen Shannon-Dudley, MSW, Anthony L. Back, MD, Frederick R. Appelbaum, MD, F. Marc Stewart, MD. New England Journal of Medicine, Vol. 368, No. 15, pp. 1417-1424

“The Washington State Death With Dignity Act: A Survey of Nurses Knowledge and Implications for Practice Part 1.” January/February 2012. Anita Jablonski, PhD, Janine Clymin, MSN, Dana Jacobson, MSN, Karen Feldt, PhD. Journal of Hospice & Palliative Nursing, Vol. 14, No. 1, pp. 45–52

Legal Challenges to Legislation 

“Congress, Controlled Substances, and Physician-Assisted Suicide — Elephants in Mousehole.” March 9, 2006. George J. Annas, JD. The New England Journal of Medicine Vol. 354, No. 10, pp. 1079-1084

“The Big Chill: Inserting the DEA Into End-Of-Life Care.” January 5, 2006. Timothy J. Quill, Diane E. Meier. New England Journal of Medicine Vol. 354, No. 1, pp. 1-3

“Seven Legal Barriers to End-of-Life Care: Myths, Realities, and Grains of Truth.” November 15, 2000. Alan Meisel, Lois Snyder, Timothy Quill. Journal of the American Medical Association, Vol. 284, No. 19, pp. 2495-2501

Death with Dignity Laws And End-Of-Life Care

“Lessons from Oregon in Embracing Complexity in End-of-Life Care.” March 2017. Susan W. Tolle, MD, Joan M. Teno, MD. New England Journal of Medicine, No. 376, pp. 1078-1082 

“How We Die: A View from Palliative Care.” January 2016. Michael Ashby. QUT Law Review, Vol. 16, No. 1, pp. 5-21

“Geographic Variation of Hospice Use Patterns at the End of Life.” September 2015. Shi-Yi Wang et al. Journal of Palliative Medicine, Vol. 18, No. 9, pp. 771-780

Palliative Sedation And Voluntarily Stopping of Eating And Drinking 

“Terminal Sedation – Good Medicine? Good Ethics? Good Law?” January 2016. Sheila A.M. McLean. QUT Law Review, Vol. 16, No. 1, pp. 113-124

“Nurses’ Experiences with Hospice Patients Who Refuse Food and Fluids to Hasten Death.” July 24, 2003. Linda Ganzini, MD, et al. New England Journal of Medicine, Vol. 349, No. 4, pp. 359-365

Ethics of Death with Dignity And People with Disabilities

“The Ethics of PAS: Morally Relevant Relationships Between Personal Assistance Services and Physician-Assisted Suicide.” 2001. Andrew I. Batavia, MS. Archives of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Vol. 12, Suppl. 2, pp. 25-31

“Disability and Physician-Assisted Suicide.” June 1997. Andrew I. Batavia, JD. The New England Journal of Medicine, Vol. 336, No. 23, pp. 1671-73

“A Disability Rights/Independent Living Perspective on Euthanasia.” May 1991. Andrew I. Batavia, JD. The Western Journal of Medicine, Vol. 154, pp. 616-7

“Assisted Dying & Disability.” 2017. Christopher A. Riddle. Bioethics 31, no. 6. pp. 484-489

“Assisted Dying, Disability Rights, & Medical Error.” 2019. Christopher A. Riddle. The International Journal of Applied Philosophy 32, no. 2. pp. 187-196.

Other Related Topics

“Author(iz)ing Death: Medical Aid-in-Dying and the Morality of Suicide.” February 2019. Anita Hannig. Brandeis University.