PHILADELPHIA, Aug 10, 2001 (LSN.ca) – The battle against euthanasia in the U.S. has received additional strength in recent days with an announcement by the American College of Physicians. The nation’s second-largest medical organization behind the American Medical Association has joined the AMA by stating its official opposition to physician-assisted suicide. A paper published Tuesday in the Annals of Internal Medicine, and co-written by Dr. Daniel Sulmasy of the American College of Physicians, says the ACP believes doctors should always look for ways to improve care for the dying. At the same time the paper emphasized the group’s strong support for a patient’s right to refuse or halt treatment.
“We must solve the problems of inadequate care at the end of life, not avoid them through practices such as assisted suicide,” said Dr. Daniel Sulmasy. As summarized by the Associated Press, “Providing more and better care for pain and suffering, treating depression more aggressively and increasing access to hospice care are essential to help terminally ill patients die more comfortably, the paper said. Assisted suicide would damage the patient-physician relationship, jeopardize the medical profession’s role of healing, and lessen the value placed on life.”
See: https://www.newsday.com/news/nationworld/wire/sns-ap-assisted-suicide0806aug06.story?coll=sns%2Dap%2Dnationworld%2Dheadlines