A Model State Act to Authorize and Regulate Physician-Assisted Suicide

Despite laws in many states prohibiting assisted suicide, an unknown but significant number of people each year commit suicide with the aid of a physician. In recent years, the phenomenon of physician-assisted suicide has attracted greater attention as physicians have openly risked prosecution to shed light on the subject, advocates have raised a series of legal challenges to laws banning assisted suicide, and a federal judge has struck down the nation\u27s first statute allowing physicians to assist patients in suicide. In this Article, nine authors from the fields of law, medicine, philosophy and economics propose a comprehensive statute to permit and regulate physician-assisted suicide for patients suffering from terminal illnesses or unbearable pain. The proposed statute provides a specific series of procedural requirements designed to prevent mistaken decisions and affords limited legal protection to physicians who follow its requirements

ASCO Task Force on the Cost of Cancer Care

The United States leads the world in cancer care outcomes, but the cost is extremely high—and growing rapidly. New proposals for health reform emphasize one clear and immediate need: to control runaway cost

Update in oncology

This Update features 10 articles published in 2006. Topics include lung, gastroesophageal, breast, and gynecologic cancer, and leukemi

New Frameworks to Assess Value of Cancer Care: Strengths and Limitations

Confronted with the different clinical impacts of different treatments, the rising cost of cancer care, and the financial burden of high drug prices, several influential professional organizations have developed models with which to assess the clinical benefit and value of cancer treatment regimens. The goal is a system of valuing patient therapies that is aligned with the beneficial impact to the patient and society and that moves away from a fixed cost regardless of clinical circumstances