This Article  • References  • Full text PDF  • Send to a friend  • Save in My Folder  • Save to citation manager  • Permissions  Citing Articles  • Contact me when this article is cited  Related Content  • Similar articles in JAMA  Social Bookmarking   What's this?

David C. Thomasma, PhD
Loyola Medical Center Maywood, Ill

JAMA. 1988;259(14):2098.

	Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text PDF and any section headings.

To the Editor.

—A professional association must be able to encompass many different points of view in our secular and democratic society.

Although I do not wish to condone the actions of the unnamed resident as detailed in "It's Over, Debbie,"¹I do think it is important for the American Medical Association to consider the problems in caring for sick and dying patients, one of which is active euthanasia.

It makes no sense to hide our heads in the sand when many different forms of active euthanasia are currently being practiced in the United States. Discussing these may help bring about a social consensus that would support traditional physician reluctance to engage in active euthanasia.

Problems do exist, however, in prolonging life beyond any reasonable and comfortable limit. These problems must be thoroughly discussed by our health professional societies as well as by our citizens.

Therefore, I strongly support . . . [Full Text PDF of this Article]

CiteULike    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    Twitter     What's this?