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97 N.C. L. Rev. Addendum 1 (2019)

handle is hein.journals/addendum97 and id is 1 raw text is: 97 N.C. L. REV. ADDENDUM 1 (2019) AID IN DYING IN NORTH CAROLINA* KATHRYN L. TUCKER** IN TR O D U C TIO N ........................................................................................... 1 I. WHY AID DID NOT EVOLVE ORGANICALLY AND WHAT THIS HAS MEANT FOR THIS MEDICAL PRACTICE ..................... 2 II. RESPONDING TO UNCERTAINTY WITH LEGISLATION ................ 3 III. END-OF-LIFE CARE LANDSCAPE AND THE STATUS OF AID IN NORTH CAROLINA ......................................................... 6 A. North Carolina Law Empowers Patients to Make Autonomous End-of-Life Treatment Decisions ................ 8 B. Criminal Prohibitions Pertinent to End-of-Life Care .......... 11 IV. AID SHOULD BE GOVERNED BY THE STANDARD OF C A R E ............................................................................................ 14 V. STANDARD OF CARE FOR AID .................................................... 17 C O N C L U SIO N .............................................................................................. 20 INTRODUCTION Modern medicine can extend the dying process so long that a patient dying of a terminal illness may feel trapped in a torturously slow, lingering decline. Some patients will want to achieve a swifter, gentler end by ingesting medications prescribed to precipitate a * © 2019 Kathryn L. Tucker. ** Ms. Tucker is founder and director of the End of Life Liberty Project, an advocacy organization dedicated to protecting and expanding the rights of the terminally ill. The Project was launched as a program of the Disability Rights Legal Center (DRLC) in 2015, during Tucker's tenure as Executive Director of the DRLC. In 2017, Tucker moved the Project to the UCSF/UC Hastings Consortium on Law, Science & Health Policy. Tucker previously served as Director of Advocacy and Legal Affairs for another national nonprofit focused on end-of-life advocacy. She began her career as a litigation associate with Perkins Coie in Seattle, WA. She teaches Law, Medicine and Ethics at the End of Life and Advocacy to Protect and Expand the Rights of the Terminally Ill at law schools; with faculty appointments at the University of Washington, Seattle University, Lewis & Clark, and Loyola/Los Angeles. She is a graduate of Georgetown University Law Center. The author wishes to thank the North Carolina Law Review staff for their work in preparing this Article and the many distinguished members of the North Carolina Bar who reviewed and commented on drafts.