Physician Assisted Suicide

Physician assisted suicide is in the news again, as California recently became the fifth state to pass a law allowing it.  I guess it is the new "hospice," a way for people to deal with terminal illness -- a law that allows doctors to prescribe a lethal dose of narcotics for a dying person to take, if they so desire.

I have heard these sorts of laws described in terms of "choice" and "death with dignity."  In all honesty though, I feel like it is the opposite of choice and an example of the failure of modern medicine.

I have entered these dark rooms many times.  They are places where Death lies waiting just beyond the window and Suffering lies beside the patient within the bed.  It should be my goal in these situations, not to hasten death, but to bring relief of suffering.  True choice would be to offer patients a chance to have relief of pain and such light as can be brought into such darkness.

Real choice means offering dying men and women comfort, even as they are dying, not a firing squad.

This whole discussion saddens me, because it feels like a false choice.   The real decision should be between pursuing further treatment and accepting comfort care.

The end of life should not be a dark time, although it does include the sadness of good-bye.  My hope for my patients would be to provide relief of pain and also the hope of life beyond these fragile bodies.

Some day, we will be better at taking care of people at the end of their lives, than we are now.  Even so, I pray today that I might provide comfort for those in need.  I pray more, that none of my patients would ever feel that suicide is the answer to any question that comes to their mind.