Euthanasia and assisted suicide: elements of Church teaching.

T I he popularity of Derek Humphry 's I book Final Exit, which explains how | to assist in someone's suicide, indicues the need to review, from a number ot" perspectives, issues related to euthanasia. In the December issue of Health Progress, Stephen G. Post analyzed changing American attitudes toward the idea of a "good death" (see "American Culture and Euthanasia," pp. 32-37). In this column I briefly review elements of current Roman Catholic ethical analyses of assisted suicide and mercy killing, focusing mainly on official Church teaching while touching on revisionist perspectives where appropriate.