Physician-Assisted Suicide

Antoine de Torrenté

doi:10.7326/0003-4819-137-3-200208060-00017

Letters |6 August 2002

Physician-Assisted Suicide

Antoine de Torrenté, MD

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TO THE EDITOR:

I read with extreme interest the ACP–ASIM position paper on the very difficult question of physician-assisted suicide (1). In Switzerland, which has a population of 7 million people, physician-assisted suicide is not legal but is not prosecuted by law if very strict conditions have been fulfilled. The number of assisted deaths per year is very small, and although the ACP–ASIM position paper implies that physician-assisted suicide might lead to a tendency toward active euthanasia (the so-called slippery slope), no such tendency is developing (2). Of note, active euthanasia is illegal in Switzerland.

The ACP–ASIM position paper implies that physician-assisted suicide will jeopardize the patient–physician relationship. This is a matter of opinion. I think that the patient–physician relationship is endangered much more, thousands of times, every day, when cure or alleviation of suffering is promised to patients who cannot be cured or relieved, especially in the field of surgery and oncology. This is done perfectly legally, and no action has ever been taken against false promises.

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2002 American College of Physicians

Letters |6 August 2002

Physician-Assisted Suicide

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Letters |6 August 2002

Physician-Assisted Suicide

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