Editor:

I have little doubt that columnist Kaye Patchett and the members of the Hemlock Society are motivated largely by a genuine concern for those suffering from debilitating diseases. However, I fear that their advocacy of doctor-assisted suicide poses grave consequences for our society despite its apparent benefit.

Societal acceptance of any type of suicide cheapens human life. It defines a point beyond which life is no longer valuable, and therefore worthy of extermination. Assisted suicide is distinctly different from passive euthanasia. The latter involves simply removing the patient from the extraordinary means that were keeping him alive (e.g., a respirator) and letting the disease run its course. The former, however, is the deliberate taking of a life, for example, by a drug overdose. Whether the decision to actively invoke death is made by the patient herself, a doctor, or family members, it involves the acknowledgment that the suffering due to an illness or condition has rendered her life not worthwhile. Who is to define how much suffering warrants committing suicide? Or should it be arbitrary? What about emotional suffering, which often can be more traumatic than its physical counterpart? If a bone cancer patient is permitted to take his life, what about an emotionally distraught teenager? Furthermore, it is important to note that with modern technology, 98 percent of all physical pain can be controlled. There wasn't a single oncologist who spoke out in favor of Oregon's 1994 assisted-suicide law, yet hundreds opposed it.

Pain and suffering are intrinsic parts of the human condition. A pain-free existence is not possible, and certainly is not a right. Scores of philosophers have attested to the positive ramifications of pain, not only for those who suffer but also for those who care for the suffering. What message does it send to children who see Grandma and Grandpa kill themselves when they are "experiencing too much pain?" It is not pain and suffering that strip humans of their dignity, but other people. If doctor-assisted suicide becomes prolific, it soon will be expected that people with fatal diseases kill themselves, so as not burden society or loved ones. The "duty to die" would be a grave indignity. Human life does not lose its value or its mystery when it is racked by a painful illness. It must be enthusiastically protected until natural death.

Jeremy Loverich
chemical engineering junior