Physician-Assisted+Suicide+And+The+Politics+Of+Problem+Definition

Due to a personal crusade led by Dr. Jack Kevorkian, who wanted to assist an individual with Alzheimer’s disease, the issue of physician assisted suicide first become important in Michigan. Kevorkian wanted to legalize physician assisted suicide so the individual can commit suicide. This resulted to the Michigan state legislator created the Michigan Commission of Death and Dying which was an act that banned any involvement with assisted suicide. The importance of physician assisted suicide as a public issue was seen in the several debates; soon after it became an international debate due to the reason that issues in end-of-life medical care are common to all post-industrial societies (Strate 25). This article provides viable research information from the debate that occurred on the commission defining the three factions of physician assisted suicide based of different beliefs. The authors included an analysis of direct observation notes and interview data that elaborated on the contrast between the three factions and their understanding of the issues pertaining to physician assisted suicide which were linked to different perspectives in nine areas.