Brokering trust: estimating the cost of physician-assisted death

Excerpt

In this issue of the Journal, Mottiar et al. 1 provide an excellent summary of the current legal environment pertaining to physician-assisted death (PAD) and the possible implications for anesthesiologists in our country. What concerns us, from the perspective of front-line clinicians, is the lack of a real national dialogue on how this issue fundamentally challenges the goals of medicine and the relationship we have at the bedside with many of our most vulnerable patients. Physician-assisted death is not end-of-life care in the traditional sense of the term. This is evident in the practical implementation of physician-assisted suicide and euthanasia in other countries.2 Existential suffering and fears of losing control, being a burden, experiencing pain, and grappling with the unknown are real fears that cause tangible suffering, but we need to ask if there are better ways for physicians and communities to address this suffering. …