Yes I agree - it needs to be discussed with family before it is ever needed. I like the idea that Aldous Huxley requested LSD on his deathbed.

@OwlInASack that's the point your choice for when disease makes pain unbearable

Not a Kevorkian fan, but in cases of terminal illness wit with protracted pain it has some validity, but must be rigorously controlled and no hope of recovery,some physical pain can exceed the capability of pain killers . It was common for some patients to be "snowed" medically induced coma

@bobwjr no way to regulate it. We all have the right to die, you might not like how you have to do it but the only way to know for sure that the person wants to die is if they do it themselves. then there's the issue of if they are in such pain are they in their right mind.

@lerlo that's why is to be done with medical supervision and verification not easily done

@bobwjr except doctors are supposed to preserve life not take it which is why the AMA is against the practice. If a doctor won't help you can you sue them? As for the"supervision" if someone decides you're not eligible apparently it's not your right anymore.

@lerlo - please explain the difference between this and removing life support - respirator-defibrillator or nutrition-feeding tube - this is done every day in ICU - they are both conscious acts that result in death that otherwise would preserve life. I participated in such a decision with my father to remove him from a respirator - and yet when he was not sedated he did seem aware and his suffering was obvious. There are some patients in a "Persistent Vegetative State" that can be kept on life support for a long time - and there are similar patients with "Locked In Syndrome" that are conscious and aware yet completely unable to respond... sometimes it can be very hard to tell the difference. As an EEG Technologist - I have done many ECS (electrocerebral-silence) procedures to measure electrical activity in the brain. Many times this is used to help determine continued life support or not. Doctors do participate in lethal injection for criminal offense almost always against the patients wishes. Medical advancements have allowed us to preserve life way past when death would naturally occur without always understanding the effects. Like Jeff Goldblum says in the movie Jurassic Park "Scientists were so preoccupied with whether or not they could that they didn't stop to think if they should." It is a modern dilemma. The medical and legal ethics are not a simple matter.

@FrostyJim same thing as long as there is good medical evidence, like Terry Schiavo case. The state refused finally family got permission and life support withdrawn. On autopsy it was shown she had been brain dead for years. The bugaboo is patients who wake up from comas alive and well, luckily we are getting better at knowing the difference . Lethal injection is not the same,no medical reason that is state execution won't go into that

@bobwjr oops - meant to direct my comment to @lerlo - but I appreciate your reply - I was addressing the ethics of medically assisted death in general and what is ethically accepted by society and the courts as in criminal executions or unresponsive patients. There seems to be some socially acceptable assisted deaths with or without the patients expressed consent. Brain Death with prolonged life support is possible today in order to keep vital organs preserved for transplant and the legal definition of death has changed over time. It is similar to the definition of life after conception in the abortion debate...

@FrostyJim the difference is one of lack of action versus action. Doctors and hospitals not allowed to do anything to you without consent. Removal of life support is something you normally decide in a medical power of attorney. for instance a woman having a baby can only be told to lie down, they can't touch her and make her lie down. That would be a assault. Removal of life support is lack of treatment vs assisting a suicide which is active treatment.

@bobwjr Can you clarify the "snowed" comment?

@itsmedammit medical slang for having to use so much painkiller to stop the horrible pain that it's a medically induced coma, very precarious as it borders OD

@lerlo - I'm still confused - they are both conscious actions that result in death. Like withholding food from your child or elderly demented grandparent? ...or Brain Dead stroke victim?

@FrostyJim removal of life support is done usually by the patient in their medical power of attorney or living will. That's how they choose to commit suicide. A Family member depriving a dependent of food is called murder/manslaughter. A patient refusing to eat is called suicide. your examples don't include doctors because doctors cannot help you kill yourself

@bobwjr Wouldn't the intent then be to overdose? I know someone who had been given morphine as she struggled to breath due to pneumonia from CHF.

@itsmedammit not really only used in extreme cases, the other thing sounds like malpractice

@bobwjr I suspect it was clear she was going to die.

@itsmedammit then they were making her comfortable it's always a hard decision for medical personnel

@lerlo - or by next of kin? Or court order in the case of an unresponsive patient or a minor. In the medical field I have witnessed that living wills are routinely ignored and medically assisted deaths occur much more often than many people are aware - many physicians go to extreme efforts to convince family members that any additional life support is not warranted. Yes - there are pages of consent forms to sign to avoid liability - and large hospitals have army's of lawyers to make sure. What is legal and what is ethical and what is compassionate don't always coincide - yet who do we want making those decisions for ourselves if we did not decide such in advance. Most don't have a living will or a designated power of attorney before something happens...

@FrostyJim I don't recall any family member accused of assisted suicide being convicted. The juries always ignore the law and acquit them. As for the medical profession they're supposed to preserve life as I mentioned previously. I don't know where you get your figures that most people don't have a living will or medical power of attorney but that's on them not on the medical profession.

@lerlo - I have no published figures only my experience in the medical field - my father had a living will and it was ignored as the majority of the family disagreed with his wishes. It seems to be a common dilemma in my experience. The area of medical ethics is complex and there is a renowned medical journal that explores this along with currant legal opinions and the area of viable life and the moment of death - it is interesting from a scientific point of view - but hard to divorce from the emotional aspect as well.

@FrostyJim sorry, but a family ignoring their loved one's living will has nothing to do with assisted suicide. If a hospital has a copy of the living will major malpractice and negligence if they ignore it.