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?

Peter M. Marzuk, MD
Cornell University Medical College New York, NY

JAMA. 1994;271(1):23-24.

	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.

—Quill has written a thoughtful article on the issues that confront dying patients.¹ However, as a suicidologist and a psychiatrist who has treated suicidal, terminally ill patients, I cannot agree with his statement that "some suicides may be rational" and presumably should be sanctioned. In some ways, Quill's statement is ironic, coming as it does after his excellent exploration of the hidden emotional aspects that lie behind the patient's request, "Doctor, I want to die. Will you help me?" In fact, in each of the vignettes he presents, none of the patients really wanted to commit suicide, underscoring Quill's point that physicians not take this question at face value. How then can we dispense with all the emotionality and conclude that suicide is rational if one simply understands the disease, the prognosis, and the treatment alternatives? Most of us try to make rational decisions about the . . . [Full Text PDF of this Article]

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