Euthanasia — A Critique

Abstract

A vigorous medical and political debate has begun again on euthanasia, a practice proscribed 2500 years ago in the Hippocratic oath.^{1 2 3 4} The issue has been publicized recently in three widely divergent settings: a journal article, a legislative initiative in California, and public policy in the Netherlands.The case of "Debbie" shows that euthanasia can be discussed openly in a respected medical journal. "It's Over, Debbie" was an anonymous, first-person account of euthanasia, published on January 8, 1988, in the Journal of the American Medical Association, ^{5 6 7 8} that stimulated widespread discussion and elicited spirited replies. Later in 1988, perhaps as a result, . . .