Felicia Ackerman

Felicia Ackerman is a philosophy professor at Brown University. A recipient of an O. Henry award, she has published many short stories that deal with issues in medical ethics. In the following viewpoint, Ackerman argues that hospice—a health care option emphasizing psychological, spiritual, and comfort care for the dying—is not necessarily the best choice for all terminally ill patients. The hospice emphasis on “neither hastening nor postponing” death, for example, may not be acceptable to patients who want access to experimental therapies, life-prolonging technologies, or assisted suicide. Ideally, Ackerman concludes, hospice should simply be one among several equally available health care options for the terminally ill.

As you read, consider the following questions:

1. What principles define the National Hospice Organization’s “philosophy...