Returning To Dax's Suicide Case Study

Returning to Dax’s Case, following only the brief time after his admission to hospital, there was never any doubt about his competence. He was an adult, rational, and fully conscious person. At the scene of the accident, he requested assistance in dying. As health care professionals, the paramedics considered that their own personal commitment to the duty to save lives was the right rule to follow, and we do not suggest otherwise. Concerning Dax’s desire to commit suicide, he requested that the means be given to him to fulfil his request, as he was not physically able to procure them on his own. There is no legislation that prohibits suicide. The problem seems to be that of involving another in an act that is deemed morally wrong. The US Supreme Court later recognise the legal right to informed refusal of treatment or life-sustaining interventions. For Dax that happened in 1993; 20 years after his ordeal had begun.
In 1989, he decided to file a suit in court for the right to die, because the institution where he was placed did not provide what he judged an acceptable quality of life. He designed a switch to be connected to his intravenous line that would allow him to self-inject a lethal drug by blowing in certain ways into the ventilator. The County Superior Court ruled in his favour. McAffee did not eventually commit suicide, as he was placed in an institution where his quality of life was