h this allegedly benign practice is any guide (and I have no reason to invoke American "exceptionalism" in this regard), we will be engaging in the poorly disguised expedience of eliminating the "least desirable" among us. This is an argument I develop more fully in my submitted written testimony, and which I will gladly develop orally at the Committee's pleasure.Finally, ladies and gentlemen of this Committee, let me reiterate that we stand at a crucial turning point in American history. We now have it well within our technical means to alleviate, to palliate, to comfort, and to control the worst of symptoms among those of our fellow citizens who are terminally ill. The questions before this Committee, and before the country at large, is whether we have the heart, the courage, and the will to make it so, or whether we will opt for expedience, and call it mercy. Few issues, it seems to me, will more fully develop, or retard, the advance of the American spirit in the next few decades. I hope we will make the wisest, and most humane, of choices.I urge this Committee, and those now involved in this debate, to resist the call for a form of what is essentially licensed killing, and to take up the harder struggle of caring for the lives of the terminally ill.Thank you for your kind attention.Respectfully submitted this 29th day of April, 1996.Carlos F. Gomez...
