Should doctors be allowed to help terminally ill patients die?
Introduction--Decisions about sustaining life, allowing it to end or even
hastening death are among the most difficult choices terminally ill patients and
their families can face. Such decisions also are at the heart of a debate about
what is commonly called “physician-assisted suicide” — or “aid-in-dying” by
supporters. Oregon and Washington — and now likely Vermont — allow physicians to
write a prescription for lethal drugs if requested by someone who is terminally
ill and mentally competent. A Montana court also has allowed the procedure.
Supporters of assisted suicide say it allows the terminally ill to avoid
unnecessary suffering and meet death on their own terms, and they say safeguards
in the laws prevent abuse of the procedure. But opponents say assisted suicide
devalues life, opens patients to exploitation by relatives or others and could
lead to widespread euthanasia of the sick and vulnerable.
THE REPORT INCLUDES THIS INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND, OVERVIEW, CURRENT SITUATION, OUTLOOK, PRO/CON, CHRONOLOGY, SHORT FEATURES, MAPS/GRAPHS, BIBLIOGRAPHY, NEXT STEPS, CONTACTS, AND FOOTNOTES.
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