Tag: physician assisted suicide

  • Dementia and the Goals of Care

    Even though you think and behave perfectly normally, you might already have Alzheimer’s disease. In fact, you might warrant the label of “pre-clinical Alzheimer’s disease” for a full 20 years before graduating to the full-fledged condition. That according to the latest definition of Alzheimer’s put forward by the National Institute on Aging together with Alzheimer’s Association…

  • Suicide among the Elderly

    In terms of cost savings, suicide among the elderly would be quite effective. Perhaps “suicide panels” would be as successful as the imaginary ”death panels” that caused so much consternation as healthcare reform was being processed. A ready-made theme song for “suicide panels” could be “Suicide is Painless“, the theme song from the hit TV…

  • Death with Dignity: A Response to Daniel Callahan

    As someone who strongly supports the proposed Death with Dignity Act that will come before Massachusetts voters on November 6th and that is virtually identical to the law that has been in effect in Oregon for nearly 15 years and in Washington state for four years, I would like to respond to Dan Callahan’s arguments…

  • By Any Other Name: Physician-Assisted Suicide

    Some 30 years or so I was far more sympathetic to euthanasia and physician assisted suicide (PAS) than I am now, and will use this occasion to say why I changed my mind, growing slowly disillusioned.