ABSTRACT
Ever since the 1960s, when medical science first became capable of prolonging the dying process beyond bounds that many patients would find acceptable, people have sought ‘death with dignity,’ or ‘a natural death,’ or ‘a good death’ (Webb 1997). Once debilitation from a fatal affliction has reached a personally intolerable point, dying patients have sought to control the manner and timing of death via diverse techniques. Some dying patients have sought disconnection of life-sustaining medical interventions such as respirators and dialysis machines. Beyond freedom from unwelcome interventions, some patients intent on avoiding suffering have sought access to pain relief medication – even in dosage posing some risk (perhaps even certainty) of hastening death. To avoid unbearable suffering, other dying patients have sought access to deep sedation, even knowing that they would never emerge from the resultant unconsciousness. Still other patients have sought to hasten an impending death by voluntarily refusing to eat or drink or to accept artificial nutrition and hydration. Finally, some suffering patients seek the more expeditious route of assisted suicide (via a prescription of lethal medication) or even active euthanasia (via a lethal injection at a physician’s hand).
