Pros and Cons of Physician-Assisted Suicide

Twenty years ago, Oregon became the first state in the U.S. to legalize physician-assisted suicide (PAS). Thirty other states have debated and rejected similar legislation, whereas 5 states and the District of Columbia have legalized PAS or enabled it by judicial ruling. This ongoing national conversation has prompted the American College of Physicians (ACP) to reconsider its 2001 position paper against the practice — and once again, the organization has declined to endorse it. In a position paper supplemented by several independent commentaries, reasons to support and to disagree with the ACP decision were reviewed.

Writing on behalf of the ACP, Sulmasy and Mueller note that proponents of PAS consider it to be a logical extension of physici…