Derek Humphry and Mary Clement

Derek Humphry is the founder of the Hemlock Society and a well-known advocate of euthanasia. He and Mary Clement, an attorney, are co-authors of Freedom to Die: People, Politics, and the Right-to-Die Movement, from which the following viewpoint is excerpted. Humphry and Clement argue that the issue of physician-assisted suicide has become prominent in part because of the rising costs of health care for elderly people in the last days of life. The financial and emotional tolls of caring for the dying are straining the resources of individual families and of society, leading many people to consider physician-assisted suicide and voluntary euthanasia to be acceptable options. A social taboo exists against openly expressing economic arguments for euthanasia, the authors contend, but such issues cannot ultimately be ignored. For...