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Don’t put doctors
in death biz

I've always thought one of the sillier laws on the books are those making suicide illegal. All over the country it's against the law to kill yourself, yet people are getting away with it all the time. Even those who attempt suicide and fail are not dragged before a judge. You never see, for instance, someone get five to 10 years in the slammer after jumping off a high bridge and just getting wet.

If living in this world is not a matter of personal choice, what is?

Nevertheless, I've always had a problem with the concept of "physician-assisted suicide." State legislators just killed a bill (note the ironic wording) that would have allowed doctors to prescribe lethal medication to terminally ill patients who want to end their lives. Legislators did the right thing -- but not for the reasons generally given by those against so-called "death with dignity" bills.

They did the right thing because doctors simply shouldn't be in the death business. Doctors are in the business of life, and to suddenly expand their calling to include ending lives instead of saving them is unfair and just a tad creepy.

Even the term "doctor-assisted suicide" causes my blood pressure to rise. It sounds something like "car dealer-assisted traffic accident" or "chef-assisted ptomaine poisoning." Or how about "architect-assisted building collapse" and "firefighter-assisted arson"?

The only reason doctors are dragged into the issue is because they are in charge of the drugs.

But what "physician-assisted suicide" is all about is actually "government-approved death."

TO THAT END, government should quit trying to put the black mask on doctors and take responsibility itself for letting people kill themselves. If voters want terminally ill people to be able to end their own lives, they should set up a non-doctor-related agency to handle that business. Call it the Department of Death or something, but put someone in charge of handing out the kill pills other than doctors. Let the doctors make the prognosis that the patient is suffering from a fatal, incurable disease, and then let them get out of the way.

I'm surprised more doctors have not spoken out against being pawns in this "death with dignity" debate. If I were a doctor, I wouldn't want the added burden of sending my patients across the river.