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I can't agree with the above statement on physician-assisted suicide. As a hospice worker, I have witnessed many interventions by physicians that relieved pain and gave the patient aid in dying. I have also witnessed physicians authorizing the removal of devices which were artificially prolonging a person's dying process. But neither of these instances involved intentionally assisting the person to take her or his own life.

If we're to have an honest discussion about this issue, it's incumbent upon us not to obfuscate the subject by calling it something other than it is. If the term "suicide" troubles people, perhaps they should ask themselves why, rather than attempting to substitute misleading euphemisms for the act of taking one's life.

posted 5 years, 2 months ago
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