Requests for physician-assisted death - Guidelines for assessing mental capacity and impaired judgment

This article fills a need in the theoretical and clinical literature by pre senting a set of guidelines for assessing mental capacity and impaired judg ment when a person makes a request to have physician-assisted death. Becaus e Oregon is the only state to have a law allowing physician-assisted death, the guidelines are placed within the context of the Oregon Death with Dign ity Act. A comprehensive overview of the legal and clinical issues associat ed with the assessment of capacity precedes the actual guidelines.