SPECIAL SESSION: REQUESTS TO DIE: WHAT ARE THEY, WHY ARE THEY, WHAT SHOULD WE DO WITH THEM?

P R MUSKIN; T AKECHI; M BANNINK; S DOBSCHA; B C LEE;

This international symposium will focus upon the clinical issues regarding patient requests to die. Each of the presenters is experienced in the issues of hastened death and patients' wishes to end their lives. The panel will discuss cases from each of the panelist's clinical experience. The cases will fall into several large categories: 1. Patients who have requested assistance in dying 2. Patients who requested the discontinuation of treatment keeping them alive 3. Patients who had made a suicide attempt that required a decision whether to keep the patient alive 4. Patients refusing medical treatment in order to bring about their death The panelists will preview the case material and will present how and why they each would have handled the particular clinical situation. The theoretical foundation of each presenter's approach will be outlined around the clinical cases. The goal will be to formulate how clinicians should approach requests for hastened death, understand the meaning of the request, and plan a course of action that maximizes the patient's wishes without ignoring the many psychological forces that motivate such requests.