It is hard to open a newspaper in the United States today without finding at least one article that has some bearing on the end-of-life debate. Perhaps Dr. Jack Kervorkian, a retired pathologist, has helped another person commit suicide, or a famous person with AIDS has written about the agony of the terminal stages of this terrible disease. Maybe the Pope has threatened to excommunicate any catholic that joins a right-to-die organization or a court has overturned another law banning physician assisted suicide. We are constantly bombarded with stories of people's end-of-life decisions and sometimes these issues may strike close to home and we must make a choice.

Euthanasia, one of the words associated with the end-of-life debate, means different things to different people. The word is loaded with historical and emotional connotations. The dictionary allows for much interpretation: "The painless killing of a patient suffering from...