ABSTRACT
The battle lines were drawn. On one side were persons concerned with keeping the uncertain, irrevocable decisions of assisted suicide in the hands of those most intimately involved. In circumstances of intense suffering and terminal illness, individuals should have the right to choose their moment of death. If they needed help, it should be provided. Although assisted suicide might be an anathema to medical ethics and religious or moral beliefs, there came a point when resistance to death and the prolongation of suffering made no sense. Assisted dying, not assisted suicide, should be the goal.
