Answer to Question 1He told police that he did not help her commit suicide, but neither did
he try to stop her. In fact, he said, he sat by her side as she died. She had been
suffering from depression and numerous injuries and illnesses in her final years.
Both the husband and wife were said by family and friends to be mentally alert and
competent and capable of making such decisions. Should the husband's failure to
stop his wife from commiting suicide count as assisting a suicide? Did he violate
any moral obligations to her in failing to stop her from committing suicide?
Answer to Question 2The doctors want to be permitted to provide medications
to patients who are terminally ill and mentally competent, so the patient can decide
later to commit suicide. The medications can also be used to lessen the severe pain
of many terminal cancers. If the prescribed drugs can be used for a clearly legal
purpose of alleviating pain, should doctors be held responsible for assisting in a
suicide if the patient uses them for this other purpose?
Food web associated with algal turf during the summer in the Eel River, California.
Changes in boreal forest composition along a chronosequence in Quebec. Dates refer to the year of th
Blue whale skeleton, outside the Long Marine Laboratory at the University of California, Santa Cruz
Warner Bros' Tasmanian Devil at a parade in California
Physical therapist assisting a patient to walk in the parallel bars.
Suicide and Season of Birth