Holding the Line on Euthanasia

Progress made in the development of law and practice for the of treatment has depended in part on the legal prohibition of euthanasia. Gains achieved due to the prohibition include an overall of relatively informal, nonlegalistic decision processes and a in the commitment of physicians to do no harm; an expansive reading by courts of the right to refuse life-sustaining treatment; greater attention clinicians to the pain and distress of dying patients; and a safer context the ambivalence and conflict of termination decisions at the patient's. Any argument for easing the prohibition must acknowledge the, which could be a loss of ground hard won. (KIE abstract)