emselves by swallowing the required dose of pills do not quickly die, but linger, sometimes, for weeks. Therefore, it is deceptive to argue that a patient would pursue P.A.S. because of the lack of pain relief.However, the extremity of pain can be controlled medically, and terminally ill patients can function in comfort until their last days without the need of assisted-suicide. In an April 9 letter to The New York Times, Nicholas A. Pace, M.D., a member of the New York University Medical School faculty, wrote: “The public should know that knowledge does exist to allow the terminally ill patient to die comfortably, unassisted and: with dignity. This can be witnessed in every well-managed hospice.” (“Dr. Kevorkian’s side scores” 2). Another misleading aspect of the proponents is that candidates will not enjoy the degree of personal freedom if they do not have the right to die. But how far this kind of freedom can go? “ The effect of maximizing freedom (to die)… may be to make it more difficult for the sick – the dependent, those whose lives seem out of control – to refuse the question of death, harder to justify their existence,” argues Allen Verhey, professor of religion, in an issue of Christian Century magazine. Proponents also claim that P.A.S. is a matter of last resort. That claim is fictive. Certainly, while P.A.S. is illegal, few consider recourse to it until all other options are tried. If it were made legal, however, why would a patient be constrained to consider it only as a last option? Mr. Callahan warns that legalizing assisted suicide would be profoundly immoral: "It would harm the individual by predicating his dignity and final self-determination on the right to be killed by another. It would harm the community by introducing consenting adult killing as a means of relieving suffering." (Ann Scott 2)The “right to die” movement must be stopp...
