In mid-1996, the United States Supreme Court agreed
to hear arguments and rule on two lower court cases that
would, if upheld, legalize physician-assisted suicide in
twelve states, including California. At about the same
time, at a national meeting dealing with this controversial
topic, several participants from the San Francisco Bay
Area got together to ask, “What might we do of practical
use in preparation for the Supreme Court's ruling?”
Based on the old principle of “think globally, act
locally,” the suggestion was made that the local
ethics committee network might be interested in developing
guidelines for the care of patients at the end of life
in the unlikely event that laws would change by Supreme
Court action. Thus the coordinator of the Bay Area Network
of Ethics Committees (BANEC) and several BANEC members
began to discuss this question.