Assisted Suicide:over my dead body!

This is a repost of a Post Removed by Accident

Although we have covered assisted dying or assisted suicide many times before on this blog some of you may have found the recent perspective in the New England journal of Medicine an interesting read. I certainly did.
Prokopetz JJ, Lehmann LS Redefining physicians' role in assisted dying. N Engl J Med. 2012; 367(2):97-9.

This is clearly very topical as this week's Economist has an article on the same issue:

Assisted suicide. Over my dead body Helping the terminally ill to die, once taboo, is gaining acceptance. The Economist Oct 20th 2012

......The prospect of the loss of autonomy, of dignity and of the ability to enjoy life are the main reasons cited by those wanting assisted suicide. Having the option of assisted suicide means that terminally ill people can wait before choosing to end their lives. That may have been what happened to Gloria Taylor, a Canadian assisted-suicide campaigner with Lou Gehrig’s disease (a degenerative illness). After winning a landmark court case four months ago that gave her a “personal exemption” to seek a doctor’s help to commit suicide at the time of her choosing, she died earlier this month—from natural causes......
Read More!



On a personal level what do you do if an MSers with advanced MS asks you to write a medical report so that he/she has the option of attending Dignitas, the legal clinic in switzerland for assisted suicide? This is a very difficult question. I believe you can't be judgemental and have to be supportive as possible. You cannot impose your worldwide view on someone else.Our primary role as doctors is to relieve suffering and not necessarily to presevre life. The modern Hippocratic oath captures the essence of this very well

This is a repost the original Post had Survey on Assisted Suicide

Other related posts:
Multiple Sclerosis Research: Redefining physicians' role in assisted 13 Jul 2012
Multiple Sclerosis Research: Assisted suicide: regulatory issues
22 Feb 2012
Multiple Sclerosis Research: Hippocratic Oath
11 Oct 2011
Multiple Sclerosis Research: Results of the Assisted Suicide Survey
01 Jul 2011
Author defends film of assisted dying as BBC fields complaints
15 Jun 2011
Multiple Sclerosis Research: Suicide attempts in multiple sclerosis
27 Apr 2011

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