Oregon's guidelines for physician-assisted suicide: a legal and ethical analysis

Oregon's Death with Dignity Act was first passed by a ballot initiative in 1994, but numerous judicial challenges delayed implementation of the Act. In November of 1997, following the United States Supreme Court decisions in Vacco v. Quill and Washington v. Glucksberg, which left the states' power to regulate physician-assisted suicide undisturbed, the Oregon voters upheld their law. Oregon remains the only state in the nation to authorize physician-assisted suicide. The Task Force to Improve the Care of Terminally Ill Oregonians published a Guidebook for health care providers on the Oregon Act, and the New England Journal of Medicine recently issued a special report on the first year's experience under the Act. This paper analyzes the legal context of the Oregon Death with Dignity Act, discusses the efficacy of the tenets in the Guidebook, and explores ethical issues underlying the guidelines, particularly those pertaining to the meaning of a patient's request for assisted suicide and processes supporting informed consent.     

Forensic medical significance of anti-P1 immunoreagents with incomplete antibodies in blood analysis

Anti-P1 immunoreagents with incomplete antibodies are intended for detection of antigen of different degree of manifestation in blood traces during expert evaluation of material evidences by the adsorption-elution test. These reagents can be used for detecting weakly manifest P1 antigen in liquid blood in forensic medical studies.     

Detection of semen in stains on material evidences by quantitative immunofluorescence test

Russian and foreign methods used in forensic medicine for detection of the semen in stains on material evidences are compared. The potentialities of quantitative immunofluorescence test for detection of the semen in stains on material evidences, developed at Bureau for Forensic Medical Expert Evaluations of the Leningrad region, are described. Unlike other methods used in Russia, this method detects the semen in stains in the absence of spermatozoa and in stains with very low amount of the semen. Our modification allows objective recording of the results with computer processing. The method is cheaper than its foreign analogs and its sensitivity is similar to them.     

Forensic medical evaluation of professional working capacity in victims, who needs additional care

The philosophy of evaluating the need of a victim in extra care is discussed. The method for evaluating the need in transport vehicles for the victim is described in detail. Legislative documents which help solve such problems are cited, including those used by committees of forensic medical evaluations.     

Comparative analysis fo heroin

A protocol for comparative analysis of heroin making use of chromatographic methods and infra-red spectroscopy is presented.     

Isolation of nitrobenzene from biological material

Toluene is recommended as an agent for extraction of nitrobenzene from biological material. Optimal conditions for nitrobenzene isolation from cadaveric human liver are defined and the results of isolation are quantitatively evaluated.     

Asphyxial death during prone restraint revisited: a report of 21 cases

Determining the cause of death when a restrained person suddenly dies is a problem for death investigators. Twenty-one cases of death during prone restraint are reported as examples of the common elements and range of variation in these apparently asphyxial events. A reasonable diagnosis of restraint asphyxia can usually be made after ruling out other causes and collecting supportive participant and witness statements in a timely fashion. Common elements in this syndrome include prone restraint with pressure on the upper torso; handcuffing, leg restraint, or hogtying; acute psychosis and agitation, often stimulant drug induced; physical exertion and struggle; and obesity. Establishing a temporal association between the restraint and the sudden loss of consciousness/death is critical to making a correct determination of cause of death.