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Physician-Assisted Suicide An Ethical Way Out Or An Easy Way Out, Joshua M. Benson

Joshua M Benson

Is it ethical, and/or should it be legal, for a terminally ill patient to substitute their will for that of God or nature by allowing them to decide when he or she is ready to die? The death of Dr. Jacob “Jack” Kevorkian last summer brought physician-assisted suicide back into the public limelight. Since 1988, the general public, the courts, legislatures, and physicians have been debating whether it is moral, ethical, or legal to allow for physician-assisted suicide. Recently, the state of Washington’s legislature adopted Oregon’s Death with Dignity Act and Montana’s judicial system found physician-assisted suicide to be legal. …