Physician Assisted Suicide Case Summary

This case centers around a conversation between Dr. Wolfe and one of his patients, Hal Crane. The two men are talking about Crane’s urges and thoughts about killing people, additionally, Dr. Wolfe seems to believe that Crane is a paranoid schizophrenic. There are many justifiable motives to have Crane committed against his will. For example, during the conversation everything Crane was saying seemed premeditated meaning he has been entertaining the idea of murdering somebody for a while. A key instance of the premeditation is how Crane knows precisely who he would kill. He told the doctor he thought about killing girls about his age. Furthermore, he confesses to having these thoughts of murder which clearly means he is a hazard to society. He states that he has not done anything yet. The key word in that …show more content…
If someone is having contemplations about killing people, then it is in the physician’s good judgement to take the proper steps to protect the citizens around him. Also, not only will the physician be saving innocent blood from being spilt; he would be getting the help that his patient needs if the physician went against the patient’s will. In addition, physicians should be obligated by the law to turn patient’s in if it endangers innocent people.
The case concerning Crane is extremely parallel to the Tarasoff case. For instance, the two cases both have patients that orally admitted to wanting to cause harm to another person. However, the difference is in the Tarasoff case, the patient actually committed the murder. If anything the Tarasoff case should give physicians a sense of what could happen if they were to not report threats made by patients. Tatiana, the murder victim from the Tarasoff case, would probably still be alive if the proper steps were taken to admit the murder against his