Kathryn Tucker

Kathryn Tucker, (born 1959) is legal affairs director for Compassion & Choices. She graduated from Georgetown University Law Center in 1985 and Hampshire College in 1981. Tucker is an adjunct law professor at Lewis and Clark School of Law, where she teaches Law, Medicine and Ethics at the End of Life. Beginning in 1990, while an attorney at the Seattle firm of Perkins Coie, she did pro bono work for Washington Citizens for Death with Dignity, which led her into the aid-in-dying movement.

In 1997 Tucker argued "Glucksberg v. Washington" before the U.S. Supreme Court, seeking to establish a federal constitutional right to choose aid in dying; the Court referred the issue to the states. The "Glucksberg" case is widely recognized as prompting widespread effort to improve end of life care. Tucker represented terminally ill Oregonians challenging the attack on Oregon's Death with Dignity Act by former United States Attorney Generals John Ashcroft and Alberto Gonzales, in "Oregon v. Gonzales". The Oregon law was upheld by the United States Supreme Court.

Tucker successfully defended the Oregon Death with Dignity Act from attacks from the federal legislature and the U.S. Department of Justice. She was a lead author of a California law requiring pain management education for physicians, which passed in 2001. Tucker defends physicians who face prosecution for adequate pain management. She has published numerous articles on end-of-life issues in law, medicine and health policy journals.

Publications

* "In the Laboratory of the States: The Progress of Glucksberg’s Invitation to States to Address End of Life Choice," "Michigan Law Review" (2008)
* "Patient Choice at the End of Life: Getting the Language Right," 28 "Journal of Legal Medicine" 305-325 (2007)
* "Privacy and Dignity at the End of Life: Protecting the Right of Montanans to Choose Aid in Dying," 68 "Montana Law Review" 317-333 (2007)
* "U.S. Supreme Court Ruling Preserves Oregon’s Landmark Death with Dignity Law," "NAELA Journal", Volume II, No. II, pp 291-301 (2006)
* "Federalism in the Context of Assisted Dying: Time for the Laboratory to Extend beyond Oregon, to the Neighboring State of California," 41 "Willamette Law Review" 863 (2005)
* "Medico-Legal Case Report and Commentary: Inadequate Pain Management in the Context of Terminal Cancer - The Case of Lester Tomlinson," 5 "Pain Medicine" 214-217 (June 2004)
* "End of Life Care, a Human Rights Issue," 30 "Human Rights" 11 (2003)
* "A Piece of the Puzzle: Bringing Accountability to Failure to Treat Pain Adequately," 6 "Journal of Palliative Medicine" 615-617 (2003)
* "A New Risk Emerges: Provider Accountability for Inadequate Treatment of Pain," 9 "Annals of Long-Term Care" 52-56 (2001)
* "Improving Pain Care: A Safe Harbor is Not Enough," 11 "Health Law" 15 (1999)
* "Treatment of Pain in Dying Patients," 338 New England Journal of Medicine 1231 (1998); 339 "New England Journal of Medicine" 705 (1998)
* "The Death with Dignity Movement: Protecting Rights and Expanding Options after Glucksberg and Quill," 82 "Minnesota Law Review" 923 (1998)

External links

* [http://www.compassionandchoices.org/ Compassion & Choices]