Society is beginning to address the need for early death when hope for cure is not possible. The talent rests in saving a life, which is why we all trained for seven or more years. Physicians are not at the center of other societal dilemmas such as abortion, the death penalty, withdrawal of life support or cloning. Instead, physicians participate as a part of society tooffer their wisdom and education on these matters. Just as with lethal injection, assisted suicide need not fall in the treatment domain of physicians.
Individual physicians align with one view based on their experiences with the sick.
However, organized medicine, speaking with one voice, should simply state that we are trained to provide care, comfort and cure. If those three goals are unattainable in the mind of the infirmed patient, then it is society's role to decide if ending one's life is socially acceptable and to provide the nonphysician services to do it. Pain and suffering are another issue altogether. It is widely known that 40 percent of all cancer patients are still thought to die in unrelieved pain. However, addressing the needs of the terminally ill patient to reduce both pain and suffering restores their desire to live.