Assisted Death — A Compassionate Response to a Medical Failure

Is it ever morally appropriate for physicians to assist a patient's dying, either by providing the means or by directly causing death? What should be the stance of the law toward physician-assisted death? We have usually tried to resolve these questions through appeals to ethical rights, duties, and consequences. This search for a resolution has proved unsatisfactory. In the most difficult and compelling cases, the ethical rights, duties, and consequences seem fairly evenly balanced on both sides of the argument. Any resolution in terms of standard moral principles seems to reject the important moral considerations on one side or the…