| Dr. Carlos Gomez talks about Dutch laws which have legalized euthanasia and about why some American doctors have embraced the idea of killing their patients. His book Regulating Death looks at how physicians, who historically have been committed to preserving human life and to the claims of the Hippocratic Oath, have become committed to facilitating the end of life. He asks whether doctor-assisted suicide is an exercise in mercy or expediency. Dr. Gomez is concerned that terminally ill patients can be persuaded and coerced into believing that they ought not to go on living in their present condition. He believes most requests for suicide are an exercise in desperation and that a doctor should respond not by honoring the cry but by honoring the patient. |
Regulating Death: Euthanasia and the Case of the Netherlands (The Free Press, 1991) |
