Helping a Suicide When the End Isn’t Near

The New York Times - Ira Byock, professor of medicine and community and family medicine emeritus, participates in The New York Times' opinion section "Room for Debate," discussing how some nations are permitting people with serious, nonfatal health problems—even severe depression—to commit suicide with help from a physician. "Suicide, assisted suicide and physician-assisted suicide are distinct acts. Suicide has existed from antiquity, and has always been discouraged," says Byock. "Rational suicide represents the ultimate, unilateral exit from society; therefore, its illegality strikes me as meaningless. But, except in self-defense, intentionally ending another person's life remains wrong, on principle."