ABSTRACT
Previously, the American Geriatrics Society has affirmed that patients have the authority to choose among available plans of care, including foregoing life-sustaining procedures. Recent public debate has centered on whether the patient’s authority may now be extended to include active voluntary euthanasia, ie, to allow physicians to comply with a patient’s request to administer lethal medications or other interventions intended to cause the death of the patient. Advocates for voluntary active euthanasia propose that its use would be restricted to those circumstances where the patient is suffering intolerably without prospect of relief and where the patient reasonably and voluntarily prefers death to the life that confronts him.
