Wesley J. Smith

Wesley J. Smith is an attorney for the International Anti- Euthanasia Task Force and the author of Forced Exit: The Slippery Slope from Assisted Suicide to Legalized Murder. In the following viewpoint, Smith argues that sanctioning assisted suicide devalues the lives of sick and dying people and undermines a physician’s oath to “do no harm.” Nurturing and effective pain control should be the preferred treatments for the terminally ill, Smith maintains. If the legalization of assisted suicide spreads, he warns, the nonfatally ill and the disabled will face increased pressure to end their lives in order to cut health-care costs.

As you read, consider the following questions:

1. According to Smith, which groups have formed a coalition to oppose assisted suicide?
2. Why have many...