Dr. Timothy E. Quill tackled matters of concern regarding end-of-life care on Tuesday night in a lecture in the Dedman Life Sciences building.

Quill is board-certified in internal medicine and received his M.D. from the University of Rochester.

His passion in the medical field manifests itself in palliative care – improving the quality of life of seriously ill patients by relieving pain rather than attempting to cure the disease. Palliative care is now widely recognized as a subspecialty of medicine.

“It really all comes down to what kind of care we want to provide to the people we really care about,” Quill said.

Quill highlighted various medical and legal cases in the right-to-die movement, including Elizabeth Bouvia and the more familiar Terri Schiavo.

Through this progression, Quill explained, stopping life support has become permissible in most areas if there is clear and convincing evidence of the patient’s wishes.

Patients such as Bouvia, who is still alive today even after the removal of her feeding tube, have caused a great deal of interest and support in palliative care.

However, a historical timeline of right-to-die cases was not the only focus of Quill’s lecture. He himself has been directly involved in a controversial case of physician-assisted suicide. While treating a terminally ill patient, Quill was convinced by the patient that if living without treatment became too unbearable, he would provide her with medication to painlessly end her life.

When the patient reached this juncture, Quill carried out his promise, providing enough medication to induce death. Quill decided to come forth with his experience in the form of an article in the New England Journal of Medicine.

What followed was an inevitable public outcry and a prosecution which ultimately found itself in the hands of a three-doctor panel.

The doctors decided to allow Quill to continue practcing medicine. Quill’s ordeal opened the doors to a great deal of debate over the ethics of physician-assisted suicides.

It also allowed advancement in palliative and hospice care.

“Nine times out of 10, we can find a solution which is not assisted suicide,” said Quill. Quill illustrated various alternatives to physician-assisted suicide such as terminal sedation, or an unconscious state for intractable symptoms.

Throughout the night, Quill continued to drive home a message to do what the patient truly wants, and knowing what a family’s loved ones would want in an end-of-life situation.

“When you sit down and listen to people, they have a lot to say about their feelings,” said Quill.