As I’ve written elsewhere “physician-assisted suicide (PAS) laws in Oregon, Washington, and Vermont permit doctors to prescribe a life-ending medication to adults who are found to have decision-making capacity and a terminal illness that will lead to death within six months. But now groups such as the Society for Old Age Rational Suicide (SOARS) are advocating that people without terminal conditions also be granted means for committing suicide.” A recent New Yorker article describes how this is already happening in Belgium. With the Britney Maynard case sparking a movement to give people more autonomy end to their lives, it’s worth examining how this is playing out in the European countries that are doing so. Here’s the link to the New Yorker article. http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2015/06/22/the-death-treatment
James Marroquin 
christa
June 29, 2015 at 6:56 pm
I too read this article in the New Yorker and found it thought-provoking and disturbing at the same time. It is one thing to aid people with terminal illnesses to end their life but what Belgium has legalized seems to take this to another extreme. The way I read it, this is doctor-assisted death for anyone of any age who for any number of reasons wishes to die. A person has always had the power to die, suicide is what we call it, but a doctor-assisted suicide seems to put a burden on a physician that goes beyond the Hippocratic Oath. I have discussed this with my son and he sees no problem with the Belgium Law. I do.
Paul Silver
July 5, 2015 at 8:44 pm
Dr. Marroquin,
I am your patient, and part of the team to promote this legislation in the next legislative session in 18 months. Let me know if you want to know more.
For many of us, we want to have an alternative to a violent suicide and the pain that is left with our loved ones.
Paul Silver
Christa
July 31, 2015 at 8:23 pm
Just read the August 3, 2015 New Yorker and there in the section “The Mail” are 3 letters concerning the referenced article. Two of the three are from physicians.