Legal Initiative

Most medical schools currently offer little, if any, instruction on the important issues
surrounding dying patients.  In fact, physicians often indicate both legal and ethical
concerns about providing adequate pain relief at the end-of-life, including losing
their licenses, causing addition in patients and hastening the death of their patients.
While other groups debate the advantages and disadvantages of litigation to address
state and federal legal barriers to adequate care at the end-of-life, the Institute of
Human Values has surveyed the prescribing practices in the state of South Carolina
and elsewhere, and has complied a useful guide for both practitioners and health
policy makers interested in addressing issues related to pain management.