Assisted suicide is an individual choice

It’s time that patronizing, self-serving attitudes like those expressed by letter writer Marie Nolan (“Assisted suicide bill must be rejected,” Feb 21) be relegated to the dustbin of history, along with presumptions that health care is necessarily effective, efficient, humane and free of intolerable side effects. Her solutions are nothing more than selfservice masquerading as public service.

A health care system centered on a presumption of divine infallibility is struggling to stay relevant amid increasing patient demands for autonomy and independence throughout care, but especially at end-of-life. As a licensed health care provider myself, I know that providers are only guides, facilitators and advisers. The right of decisionmaking remains firmly and irrevocably in the hands of a competent patient.

Thus, manifestations of solidarity with, and support for, patients must be defined by the patients themselves. Additionally, we have the skill sets to effectively and humanely address fears of being a burden. That these issues are difficult and sensitive is not a reason to deny all patients their fundamental right to determine their own destiny on their own terms. Thus, every person should be encouraged to make these key decisions well before the need arises.

The same applies to the misunderstandings of Sen. Bob Cassilly (“Sen. Cassilly: Medically assisted suicide sends message to elderly that they are a burden,” Feb. 26). That the existing standard of administration of narcotics appeals to him does not imply it’s “working” for all parties. And the definition of “harm” in the Hippocratic Oath is in the eyes of the patient. In fact, some scholars indicate that medically-assisted suicide is, in fact, entirely consistent with the intent of Hippocrates himself, because he apparently recognized that added care could imply added harm.

If you don’t like assisted suicide, then don’t have one. But we should not define the limits of what others can or must do in this most personal and private context. For more on this, I suggest Ms. Nolan and Mr. Cassilly read a little John Stuart Mill, who said “over [their] own body and mind, the individual is sovereign.”

Mark E. Rifkin, Baltimore