Page 162 - Understanding Psychology

Psychologically
Able to Decide?
Period of Study: 1960–ongoing
Introduction: In April 1999, a Michigan court jury sentenced Dr. Jack Kevorkian, a pathologist, to 10 to 25 years in prison. The con- viction was based on Kevorkian’s role in the assisted suicide of a 52-year-old man who suf- fered from Lou Gehrig’s
disease.
Kevorkian provided his
“patient” with lethal drugs.
The doctor claimed he had
used this “method” in
about 130 other cases.
Kevorkian argued that the
assisted suicides he per-
formed were methods of
euthanasia. Euthanasia is
allowing a terminally ill
patient to die naturally with-
out life support, or putting
to death a person who suf-
fers from an incurable disease (Rice, 1995). The Michigan jury who sentenced Kevorkian ruled that Kevorkian was guilty of murder because he had injected the lethal drugs directly into his patient. (The Lou Gehrig’s disease sufferer was unable to take the drugs himself.)
The controversy surrounding Kevorkian and assisted suicide are the most well-known exam- ples regarding not only euthanasia but also an individual’s right to die. Opinions and feelings vary on this sensitive topic. For those who believe a terminally ill individual does have the right to die, it is important to determine if that person is psychologically able to make that final decision.
Hypothesis: How do you assess the psychological competence of a terminally ill person who desires death? This ques- tion must be resolved in a case-by-case manner and according to the varied laws of each state. Medical doctors and psy- chologists must rely on the information
gathered from past and present cases of those who were granted permission by either physi- cians or the court system to terminate life- support systems.
Method: When a person is assessed for psychological competence, psychologists look for signs of depression, mental illness, and negative effects from any medication adminis- tered to them. If the terminally ill person does not show positive signs of these, the case is
turned over to a physician, lawyer, court system, or any combination of these. From there, it is the legal decision of these authorities to allow the ill individual to follow through with the decision. This is the procedure used in adult cases. However, when the situation involves a child or teenager, the process is much more complex and emotionally difficult.
Results:
Unfortunately experts cannot deter- mine if a person who has opted to end life has made a psychologically sound decision. For this reason, among others, many people oppose the idea that a person can terminate his or her own life. Those who support euthanasia believe that it releases ill individuals from the pain and anguish their disease or condition has caused. They argue that it is unfair for others to grant or deny the choice of death because they have not expe- rienced the pain and anguish of a terminally ill
condition themselves.
Analyzing the Case Study
1. What is euthanasia? Why is it controversial?
2. Why was Dr. Kevorkian convicted of murder?
3. Critical Thinking How might you use Kübler-Ross’s stages of dying to help you determine whether a person is psychologically able to terminate his or her life?
148 Chapter 5 / Adulthood and Old Age