Alternative to euthanasia: pain management.

Alternative to Euthanasia: Pain Management Matthew E. Conolly, M.D. Euthanasia is increasingly being touted as a beguilingly simple solution to the tragedy of a badly managed terminal illness. However, critical examination reveals that, far from being any kind of worthwhile solution, euthanasia turns out to be a Pandora’s Box of woes far worse than those which now confront us. It should be emphasized that opposition to euthanasia does not mean that one is committed to maintaining existence to the last possible gasp, nor that one is obligated to apply every available form of life support to those who are clearly dying. Providing therapy aimed at alleviation rather than cure while a disease runs its inevitable course is not the same as wilfully ending a life. The intention of such palliative care is not to bring about the death of the patient. Consequently, to call such treatment “passive euthanasia” is to brandish an oxymoron of the most unhelpful kind. The call for euthanasia is often based upon the notion that the terminally ill are bound to suffer horribly, and that this suffering can only be relieved by death itself. Like all lies and half truths, this is in danger of being believed, if for no other reason than because it is so often and so loudly trumpeted by misinformed persons in the proeuthanasia lobby. It cannot be stated firmly enough that this is a false premise. It is false in the sense that it does not have to be so, for there is already much