Deck 9: Euthanasia, Assisted Death, Abortion, and the Right to Die

Question 1

Probably the earliest and purest form of euthanasia is:

A) active euthanasia
B) mercy death
C) hastened death
D) passive euthanasia.

Answer 1

B

Question 2

Which of these statements about the Hippocratic Oath is NOT true?

A) It probably originated in the fifth century B.C.
B) All physicians are required to swear allegiance to this oath.
C) It prohibits the giving of "deadly medicine."
D) It prohibits the giving of an "abortive remedy."

Answer 2

B

Question 3

Euthanasia originally meant:

A) dying without pain and suffering
B) ending a life to avoid pain and suffering
C) putting a healthy person to death prior to the development of an illness
D) none of the above.

Answer 3

A

Question 4

This oath has been used by the World Medical Association since shortly after World War II and is associated with:

A) the Hippocratic Oath
B) the Declaration of Geneva
C) no prohibition against administering a "poison" when one is requested
D) both b and c.

Question 5

When discussing treatment for someone with no chance of recovery from their condition, the phrase "let him go" is associated with ______ euthanasia.

A) informed
B) active
C) passive
D) principled

Question 6

Terminal sedation is also called "______ euthanasia."

A) slow
B) principled
C) informed
D) active

Question 7

"Euthanasia" is a deceptive term for what Nazi doctors did to residents of institutions because the people:

A) were not terminally ill
B) were not suffering intractable pain
C) did not ask to have their lives ended
D) all of the above.

Question 8

Eugenicists promoted:

A) the right-to-die movement
B) mercy killing
C) the Hippocratic Oath
D) the sterilization of people thought to have defective genes.

Question 9

Kastenbaum's discussion of the Black Stork movement highlights Dr. Harry Haiselden, who boasted of allowing the deaths of six "defective" infants in:

A) the Netherlands
B) the United States
C) Germany
D) Canada.

Question 10

Advocates of the Black Stork movement urged physicians to:

A) do all they could to save "defective" white infants.
B) consider all non-white infants to be "defective" and not worthy of medical care
C) allow all "defective" infants to die
D) none of the above.

Question 11

Which of the following is an example of a slippery slope argument applied to assisted death?

A) Physicians sometimes are in error when they conclude that people are terminally ill.
B) Most patients are not qualified to make end-of-life decisions for themselves.
C) We should not approve of assisted death for any particular person because that will encourage more such deaths and with less selectivity.
D) It is very difficult to bring legal action against physicians who provide assisted death because they usually slip out of charges.

Question 12

Recent national polls found that:

A) the public approves of allowing doctors to end the life of a severely distressed dying person at that person's request
B) the public opposes allowing doctors to end the life of a severely distressed dying person at that person's request
C) the public is about equally split on this issue
D) physicians support but nurses oppose ending a dying person's life at that person's request.

Question 13

Karen Ann Quinlan:

A) suffered severe and irreversible brain damage as a result of oxygen deprivation
B) died a few minutes after she was disconnected from the ventilator
C) was taken off the ventilator by physicians as soon as her parents made the request
D) none of the above.

Question 14

In the Karen Ann Quinlan case, the New Jersey Supreme Court ruled that the ventilator could be turned off as long as her:

A) parents agreed to the procedure
B) parents agreed not to bring legal action against the hospital or the physicians
C) parents could prove that this action would not violate Karen's religious beliefs
D) physicians agreed she had no reasonable chance of regaining consciousness.

Question 15

It is estimated that ______ Americans exist in persistent vegetative states at the present time.

A) 100 to 300
B) 500 to 1,000
C) 1,000 and 10,000
D) 10,000 to 35,000

Question 16

It is estimated that ______ Americans have minimal consciousness syndrome.

A) 1,500
B) 50,000
C) 150,000
D) 500,000

Question 17

In the "Debbie" case, the physician:

A) consulted with a supervising physician before deciding on administering a lethal dose
B) filled the syringe with the lethal dose, so that a nurse would not have to participate in the life-ending action
C) conversed with both the patient and her companion until becoming convinced that a lethal dose was the best action to take
D) none of the above.

Question 18

In the case of Nancy Cruzan, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that:

A) the Constitution does not support a right to die
B) a competent person has the right to die, but the state has the right to determine what evidence it will require to exercise that right
C) physicians are subject to criminal prosecution if they withdraw life support services at the patient's or family's request
D) physicians are subject to criminal prosecution if they do not withdraw life support services at the patient's or family's request.

Question 19

Nancy Cruzan's situation was finally resolved when:

A) she died even though still on a life support system
B) her physician reaffirmed his opposition to withdrawal of life support
C) her physician changed his mind and the court then agreed that life support could be withdrawn
D) a hospital staff member quietly "pulled the plug" without the authority to do so

Question 20

Which of the following is NOT true of the Terri Schiavo case?

A) It was three years from the time of her heart attack until the time she died.
B) Florida Governor Jeb Bush passed "Terri's Law" to restore her feeding tube.
C) The U.S. House and Senate agreed to a federal bill, signed by the President, to restore her feeding tube.
D) The autopsy showed that her brain had shrunk to half its size, thus sustaining severe and irreversible damage.

Question 21

The case described as "the exception that proves the rule" questioned the limits of what might be expected in terms of state care and the authority of the medical establishment included all the below EXCEPT:

A) potential medical systemic racism
B) parents receiving custody of their child following a coroner's death certification
C) 13-year-old Jahi McMath
D) no excepts-all above included.

Question 22

What percentage of Dr. Kevorkian's clients were terminally ill?

A) all of them
B) 28.3 percent
C) 83 percent
D) 65 percent

Question 23

The machine that Dr. Kevorkian created was known as the:

A) death machine
B) death assistant
C) thanaton
D) Merciton.

Question 24

Jack Kevorkian suggested establishing community centers across the nation where people could have assisted deaths upon request, and also where biomedical research could be done on dying and death. These centers were called:

A) deathoriums
B) dying centers
C) assisted death community centers
D) orbitoria.

Question 25

______ was the first nation to enact a law that made it legal for a physician to assist in ending a patient's life.

A) The United States
B) Belgium
C) Australia
D) The Netherlands

Question 26

What country followed the Netherlands by enacting physician-assisted suicide legislation in 2002?

A) The United States
B) Australia
C) Belgium
D) The Netherlands

Question 27

In 2009, which state followed Oregon with a Death with Dignity Act?

A) Colorado
B) California
C) Washington
D) Florida

Question 28

Since the Death with Dignity Act (DVDA) began, individuals who requested this have primarily consisted of people with the following characteristics:

A) Asian or Hispanic
B) college-educated, white, with health insurance
C) no health insurance
D) both a and c

Question 29

Which of the following statements is NOT true?

A) Legal abortion in the U.S. has proved to have a low risk to the woman's health.
B) The health risk to the woman increases when abortions are performed at advancing stages of pregnancy.
C) Partial-birth abortions have been banned by law in about half of states.
D) The Roe v. Wade U.S. Supreme Court decision forbids states from regulating abortions at any stage in pregnancy.

Question 30

The systematic abortion and infanticide of girls has become a national horror and disgrace for which country?

A) Japan
B) China
C) Malaysia
D) Australia

Question 31

One can assume that the covenant represented in the Hippocratic Oath represents the core belief system for physicians today.

Question 32

The Declaration of Geneva is the modern term for the ancient Hippocratic Oath.

Question 33

A literal translation of the term euthanasia would be "happy death."

Question 34

Generally speaking, active euthanasia is more easily tolerated in the U.S. than passive euthanasia.

Question 35

The terms eugenics and euthanasia mean the same thing.

Question 36

The practice of forced sterilization of Native American women occurred in Canada and the U.S. a few decades ago.

Question 37

The American College of Physicians supports assisted death when it is the patient's choice.

Question 38

There was a tendency to speak about Karen Ann Quinlan as if she were already dead when the EEG tracings still showed weak electrical activity in the brain.

Question 39

The case of "It's over, Debbie" is an example of the slippery slope argument.

Question 40

Of the 93 cases of assisted suicide with Dr. Kevorkian, 82 percent of the clients were terminally ill.

Question 41

Dr. Kevorkian assisted in many more suicides of males than females.

Question 42

Dr. Kevorkian became known in the media as "Dr. Mercitron."

Question 43

Dr. Kevorkian served eight years of his sentence before being released at the age of 79.

Question 44

The U.S. is the only nation that does not federally sanction medically assisted death.

Question 45

The Dutch Ministry of Justice found a physician guilty of premeditated murder when he gave a lethal muscular relaxant to a newborn baby girl who was born with a severe spinal column defect (with the authorization of the girl's parents).

Question 46

Currently, there are seven regions of the U.S. that allow assisted death.

Question 47

In Oregon, individuals who are under 18 years of age can request assisted death with permission of their legal guardians.

Question 48

The Oregon Death with Dignity Act has faced repeated challenges from the U.S. Department of Justice.

Question 49

Antiabortion laws were established in most states by the early 1900s.

Question 50

As of 2016, China continues to strictly enforce its one-child policy.

Question 51

What is the definition of the terms

-Advance directive

Question 52

What is the definition of the terms

-Assisted death

Question 53

What is the definition of the terms

-Competence

Question 54

What is the definition of the terms

-Declaration of Geneva

Question 55

What is the definition of the terms

-Double effect

Question 56

What is the definition of the terms

-EEG tracings

Question 57

What is the definition of the terms

-Euthanasia

Question 58

What is the definition of the terms

-Hippocratic Oath

Question 59

What is the definition of the terms

-Informed consent

Question 60

What is the definition of the terms

-Liberty principle

Question 61

What is the definition of the terms

-Mercy killing

Question 62

What is the definition of the terms

-Orbitoria

Question 63

What is the definition of the terms

-Slippery slope argument

Question 64

What is the definition of the terms

-Terminal sedation

Question 65

What is the definition of the terms

-Ventilator

Question 66

Explain the term euthanasia and then distinguish between active and passive euthanasia. Give one example of active and one example of passive euthanasia.

Question 67

Describe four options that, according to Kastenbaum, the physician in the "Debbie" case could have chosen.

Question 68

List any three of the four principle objections of medical practitioners to any form of assisted death.

Question 69

What are the conditions that must be met before a physician can legally assist a patient in ending his or her life in the Netherlands?

Question 70

What are the three primary issues or questions Kastenbaum raises regarding abortion?

Question 71

Kastenbaum states that the legal system and our society in general have been more tolerant of the "letting go" approach of passive euthanasia. Based on what you've read in this chapter, give several reasons why we are more tolerant of passive euthanasia, and give several reasons why we are intolerant and uncomfortable with active euthanasia.

Question 72

Compare and contrast the cases of Karen Ann Quinlan and Nancy Cruzan.

Question 73

Summarize the differences in the procedure leading up to Nancy Cruzan's death and the death of a 64-year-old woman in Scranton, Pennsylvania. What are Kastenbaum's concerns regarding the differences? What are some other factors involved when considering right-to-die differences?

Question 74

Summarize the standards Dr. Kevorkian set up for assisted suicide and his later actions, which violated those standards.

Question 75

List the basic provisions of the Oregon Death with Dignity Act (DWDA) and then discuss some of the side effects of this program.