Assisted suicide compared with refusal of treatment: a valid distinction? University of Pennsylvania Center for Bioethics Assisted Suicide Consensus Panel. uri icon

Overview

abstract

  • The continuing debate over the deeply controversial issue of physician-assisted suicide has been complicated by confusion about how this practice resembles or differs from refusal of life-sustaining treatment. Perspectives on ethics and policy hinge on the contested issue of whether a valid distinction can be made between assisted suicide and withdrawal of treatment. This paper uses three illustrative cases to examine leading arguments for and against the recognition of a fundamental distinction between these practices. The first case involves assisted suicide by ingestion of prescribed barbiturates, the second involves withdrawal of artificial nutrition and hydration, and the third involves a decision to stop eating and drinking. On theoretical and practical grounds, this paper defends the position that there is a valid distinction between assisted suicide and refusal of treatment.

publication date

  • March 21, 2000

Research

keywords

  • Ethics, Medical
  • Euthanasia, Passive
  • Suicide, Assisted
  • Treatment Refusal
  • Withholding Treatment

Identity

Scopus Document Identifier

  • 0034696513

Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

  • 10.7326/0003-4819-132-6-200003210-00008

PubMed ID

  • 10733447

Additional Document Info

volume

  • 132

issue

  • 6