Arthur Rifkin

About the author: Arthur Rifkin is a professor of psychiatry at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine.

While many terminally ill patients can indefinitely relieve their suffering through the use of effective pain management techniques, there are some patients whose pain cannot be mitigated. Rather than endure great pain and suffering for the remainder of their life, these patients should have the ethical choice to end their lives. Despite justifiable concern over the potential abuse of euthanasia and assisted suicide, competent patients who are suffering should not be denied the option of assisted death.

Physician-assisted suicide in a concrete fashion forces us to consider and act on what we consider ultimate. It not only makes us question whether someone should commit suicide, but whether another person should help.

Do we "play God" when we seek to end life...