| Assisted suicide and the savings clause. | |
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MedLine Citation:
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PMID: 7776723 Owner: NLM Status: MEDLINE |
Abstract/OtherAbstract:
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In December 1994, the Michigan Supreme Court decided a group of cases comprising constitutional challenges to a Michigan statute against assisted suicide and prosecutions of Dr. Jack Kevorkian for his role in two incidents of suicide. The court rejected arguments that the statute infringed a right of "personal autonomy" under the Fourteenth Amendment to the US Constitution; it noted that, although US Supreme Court opinions indicate that decisions to withdraw or reject life-sustaining treatment are constitutionally protected, a legal difference exists between permitting death to occur by natural means and taking affirmative steps to end life. The Michigan court also decided that Kevorkian could not be charged with murder for supplying only the means by which suicide occurred, but he could be charged with a common law crime of assisting in suicide although the statute outlawing such actions became effective only after the suicides occurred. Because suicide was a crime under the prerevolutionary English Common Law, which forms the foundation of Michigan law, assisting in suicide is also a residual crime under the "savings clause" of the Michigan statutes, which incorporates common law crimes into the law of that state when no superseding statute exists. |
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Authors:
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F Helminski |
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Publication Detail:
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Type: Journal Article |
Journal Detail:
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Title: Mayo Clinic proceedings. Mayo Clinic Volume: 70 ISSN: 0025-6196 ISO Abbreviation: Mayo Clin. Proc. Publication Date: 1995 Jun |
Date Detail:
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Created Date: 1995-07-07 Completed Date: 1995-07-07 Revised Date: 2007-10-29 |
Medline Journal Info:
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Nlm Unique ID: 0405543 Medline TA: Mayo Clin Proc Country: UNITED STATES |
Other Details:
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Languages: eng Pagination: 593-4 Citation Subset: AIM; IM |
Affiliation:
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Legal Department, Mayo Foundation, Rochester, Minnesota 55905, USA. |
Export Citation:
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APA/MLA Format Download EndNote Download BibTex |
| MeSH Terms | |
Descriptor/Qualifier:
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Criminal Law* Humans Legislation, Medical* Michigan Right to Die / legislation & jurisprudence* Suicide, Assisted / legislation & jurisprudence* |
From MEDLINE®/PubMed®, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine
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