Timothy E. Quill is an American physician specialising in

palliative care Palliative care (derived from the Latin root , or 'to cloak') is an interdisciplinary medical caregiving approach aimed at optimizing quality of life and mitigating suffering among people with serious, complex, and often terminal illnesses. Wit ...

at the

University of Rochester Medical Center The University of Rochester Medical Center (URMC), now known as UR Medicine, is located in Rochester, New York, is one of the main campuses of the University of Rochester and comprises the university's primary medical education, research and pat ...

in Rochester,

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

. He is also a board member of the

Death with Dignity National Center Death with Dignity National Center is a 501(c)(3) nonpartisan nonprofit organization, headquartered in Portland, Oregon, that has led the legal defense of and education about Death with Dignity laws throughout the United States for more than ...

Portland, Oregon Portland (, ) is a port city in the Pacific Northwest and the largest city in the U.S. state of Oregon. Situated at the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers, Portland is the county seat of Multnomah County, the most populous co ...

. Quill was the lead plaintiff in a case that eventually reached the

Supreme Court of the United States The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that involve a point o ...

in 1997, ''

Vacco v. Quill ''Vacco v. Quill'', 521 U.S. 793 (1997), was a landmark decision of the Supreme Court of the United States regarding the right to die. It ruled 9-0 that a New York ban on physician-assisted suicide was constitutional, and preventing doctors from a ...

'', in which the Court decided that a state law against

physician-assisted suicide Assisted suicide is suicide undertaken with the aid of another person. The term usually refers to physician-assisted suicide (PAS), which is suicide that is assisted by a physician or other healthcare provider. Once it is determined that the p ...

was constitutional. Quill earned his

undergraduate Undergraduate education is education conducted after secondary education and before postgraduate education. It typically includes all postsecondary programs up to the level of a bachelor's degree. For example, in the United States, an entry-lev ...

degree from

Amherst College Amherst College ( ) is a private liberal arts college in Amherst, Massachusetts. Founded in 1821 as an attempt to relocate Williams College by its then-president Zephaniah Swift Moore, Amherst is the third oldest institution of higher educatio ...

in 1971, and his

M.D. Doctor of Medicine (abbreviated M.D., from the Latin ''Medicinae Doctor'') is a medical degree, the meaning of which varies between different jurisdictions. In the United States, and some other countries, the M.D. denotes a professional degree. T ...

from the

University of Rochester The University of Rochester (U of R, UR, or U of Rochester) is a private research university in Rochester, New York. The university grants undergraduate and graduate degrees, including doctoral and professional degrees. The University of Roc ...

School of Medicine and Dentistry in 1976. In 1991, Quill published an article in ''

The New England Journal of Medicine ''The New England Journal of Medicine'' (''NEJM'') is a weekly medical journal published by the Massachusetts Medical Society. It is among the most prestigious peer-reviewed medical journals as well as the oldest continuously published one. His ...

'' describing how he assisted in the suicide of Patricia Diane Trumbull, a 45-year-old

leukemia Leukemia ( also spelled leukaemia and pronounced ) is a group of blood cancers that usually begin in the bone marrow and result in high numbers of abnormal blood cells. These blood cells are not fully developed and are called ''blasts'' or ' ...

patient referred to in the article as "Diane". The report describes how Patricia, a long-time patient of Quill's with an extensive medical history including vaginal cancer, alcoholism and other issues was diagnosed with leukemia but refused

chemotherapy Chemotherapy (often abbreviated to chemo and sometimes CTX or CTx) is a type of cancer treatment that uses one or more anti-cancer drugs (chemotherapeutic agents or alkylating agents) as part of a standardized chemotherapy regimen. Chemotherap ...

. She shortly thereafter decided that she wanted to kill herself rather than have a "lingering death" which doctors had told her may be a matter of weeks or months away. Quill describes in the article how he referred her to the

Hemlock Society The Hemlock Society (sometimes called Hemlock Society USA) was an American right-to-die and assisted suicide advocacy organization which existed from 1980 to 2003. It was co-founded in Santa Monica, California by British author and activist ...

and a week later she requested barbiturates to help with "insomnia". He gave her a prescription and told her the amount required to treat both insomnia and the dose required to bring about death. Some time after getting the prescription, she said her final goodbyes to Quill and her family and took the barbiturates alone. Patricia's husband reported the death to Quill who reported the cause of death as acute leukemia but left off mention of the suicide in reporting it to the medical examiner. When interviewed by the ''New York Times'' in 1991, Quill stated that he had not helped anyone else to die before or since. No charges or indictments were brought against Quill. The publication of this story has been considered to have "made history" and to have "stunned the medical community". Quill has subsequently been active in arguing for legalization of physician-assisted suicide, including during the controversial trials of Jack Kevorkian, and regarding the case of Terri Schiavo. Quill has argued against the

principle of double effect The principle of double effect – also known as the rule of double effect; the doctrine of double effect, often abbreviated as DDE or PDE, double-effect reasoning; or simply double effect – is a set of ethical criteria which Christian philosop ...

in bioethics. In 2013, the

American Academy of Hospice and Palliative Medicine The American Academy of Hospice and Palliative Medicine (AAHPM) is a professional organization for physicians specializing in Hospice and Palliative Medicine, headquartered in Chicago, Illinois. Membership is open to all health care providers com ...

included Quill on a list of 'Hospice and Palliative Medicine Visionaries'.

References

External links

University of Rochester Medical Center profile page
{{DEFAULTSORT:Quill, Timothy E. American palliative care physicians Euthanasia activists Euthanasia in the United States Amherst College alumni University of Rochester alumni University of Rochester faculty Living people Euthanasia doctors Year of birth missing (living people)