Nevertheless, one would expect that a physician who was so inclined -- who wanted, for example, to give a terminally ill patient a prescription for a painless and peaceful death -- could readily use the modern pharmacopeia to bring a swift, sure end to life. But recent evidence suggests that attempts at physician-assisted suicide often meet with unexpected complications. What's more, almost no one in the medical community is doing anything about it.

"If we're going to do this, we should do it right," says Dr. Sherwin Nuland, a surgeon at Yale Medical School.

A study published in the New England Journal of Medicine suggests that things can, and do, go wrong in physician-assisted suicide.

In 7 percent of 114 cases analyzed, patients suffered complications such as regurgitating a would-be lethal dose of drugs. In 16 percent of cases, death did not happen as expected: It took longer, or patients slipped into a protracted coma, or didn't go into a coma, or even woke entirely after metabolizing the drugs. The study was done in the Netherlands, where physician-assisted suicide is closely monitored by the government.

Continue Reading...