Zachary Carstens (JD '21) Wins American Bar Association Real Property, Trust and Estate Law Writing Competition Award

Pepperdine Caruso Law alumnus Zachary Carstens (JD '21) has been awarded second place in the American Bar Association Real Property, Trust and Estate Law Annual Writing Competition for his article, "Physician-assisted Death and the Slippery Slope: Carving Out an American Ledge." Zachary wrote the article as part of Professor Kris Knaplund's Bioethics Seminar. The article will be published in the ABA Real Property, Trust and Estate Law Journal in Spring 2022.

Excerpt from "Physician-assisted Death and the Slippery Slope: Carving Out an American Ledge"

As physician-assisted death (PAD) increases in social acceptance and legislative approval throughout the United States, praise for ensuring end-of-life autonomy and dignity to an aging population is often met with apprehension about the so-called slippery slope. Opponents of PAD regularly invoke the Netherlands' progressive legalization of PAD and subsequent relaxation of restrictions to illustrate the slippery slope, but such arguments generally fail to account for key differences between the Dutch and American legal and healthcare systems. This article discusses those differences and their bioethical implications for PAD regulation, and will propose and define a practically, legally, and ethically sound standard for PAD in the United States: to be eligible for PAD, a patient must have a terminal illness.