Illingworth P, Bursztajn H
Department of Philosophy and Religion, 361 Holmes Hall, Northeastern University, Boston, Massachusetts 02115-5000, USA.
Psychol Public Policy Law. 2000 Jun;6(2):314-21.
The observations made of Oregon's Death with Dignity Act are reassuring to the extent that they accurately state that patients who seek relief under the Act view it as a mechanism to further their autonomy. But, given the nature of social data gathering, including the potential for response bias and self-validation, and the degree to which the concept of "autonomy" is open to a broad or narrow interpretation, one has to be careful not to accept this finding at face value. It is also reassuring to read that contrary to what some people have supposed, the presence of an option to hasten death has not had a chilling effect on the prescription of pain medication. At the same time, however, the authors believe that it is important to ensure that these expressions of autonomy-based reasoning are indeed valid and authentic.
对俄勒冈州尊严死亡法案的观察结果令人安心,因为这些观察准确指出,依据该法案寻求解脱的患者将其视为促进自身自主权的一种机制。但是,考虑到社会数据收集的性质,包括存在回应偏差和自我验证的可能性,以及“自主权”概念可宽泛或狭隘解释的程度,人们必须谨慎,不能仅凭表面价值接受这一发现。读到与一些人所设想的相反情况也令人安心,即存在加速死亡的选项并未对止痛药的处方产生寒蝉效应。然而,与此同时,作者认为确保这些基于自主权的推理表达确实有效且真实很重要。