That one should not be involved in suicide is very much a part of the ethic of medicine as I understand it. An October 6,1989 article in the Journal of the American Medical Association by Ethics and Health Policy Counsel David Orentlicher, MD, JD, argues that allowing phsycians to assist in the suicide of hopelessly ill patients will violate the nature of the patient-physician relationship. Indeed, from the time of Hippocrates, the principles of medical ethics have instructed physicians to refuse their patients' requests for death-causing treatments. It is apparent from recent surveys that this Hippocratic tradition is eroding, even among doctors. However, much more thought needs to be given before involving physicians in the process and compromising their essential role as healers.
Ethics has to do with decisions that involve making a distinction between right and wrong.
But behind these criteria are also underlying assumptions about the meaning and value of life. This latter utilitarian view comes dangerously close to resembling the social engineering of physicians and geneticists under Hitler's Germany of the thirties. In the Twin Ports, much work is being done to address the dilemmas raised by prolonged suffering among the terminally ill. The issues are immensely complex and there is much at stake. On the state and national levels, it is hoped that proposed legal and ethical changes in health care policies will receive a thorough examination before such policies are revised.