Physician-Assisted Suicide

Dr. Stevens and Kara discuss the recent profile story of Brittany Maynard, a 29-year-old woman with terminal brain cancer who supports assisted suicide and plans to end her life on November 1, 2014. In response to Maynard’s plans, Kara challenges the medical community to consider whether or not they are walking away from the Hippocratic Oath by participating in assisted suicide.

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Abortion Ethical Issues Regarding Post-Fertilization Effects of Oral Contraceptives

I have prescribed “the Pill” since 1978. My wife and I used the Pill for years, having no moral concerns about it. Then, in 1995 my friend and practice partner John Hartman, MD, showed me a patient information brochure–given to him by a friend–that claimed the Pill had a postfertilization effect causing “…the unrecognized loss of preborn children.” John asked me if I had ever heard of such a thing. I had not.

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