Или этот или предыдущий)15. Isn't euthanasia sometimes the only way to relieve excruciating pain?

Answer: Quite the contrary. Euthanasia activists exploit the natural fear people have of suffering and dying, and often imply that when cure is no longer likely, there are only two alternatives: euthanasia or unbearable pain.

For example, an official of Choice in Dying, a right-to-die organization, said refusing to permit euthanasia " would, in fact, be to abandon the patient to a horrifying death."

Such an irresponsible statement fails to note that virtually all pain can be eliminated and that -- in those rare cases where it can't be eliminated -- it can still be reduced significantly if proper treatment is provided.

It is a national and international scandal that so many people do not get adequate pain control. But killing is not the answer to that scandal. The solution is to mandate better education of health care professionals on these crucial issues, to expand access to health care, and to inform patients about their rights as consumers.

Everyone -- whether it be a person with a life-threatening illness or a chronic condition -- has the right to pain relief. With modern advances in pain control, no patient should ever be in excruciating pain. However, most doctors have never had a course in pain management so they're unaware of what to do.

If a patient who is under a doctor's care is in excruciating pain, there's definitely a need to find a different doctor. But that doctor should be one who will control the pain, not one who will kill the patient.

There are board certified specialists in pain management who will not only help alleviate physical pain but are skilled in providing necessary support to deal with emotional suffering and depression that often accompanies physical pain.

Should people be forced to stay alive?

Answer: No. And neither the law nor medical ethics requires that " everything be done" to keep a person alive. Insistence, against the patient's wishes, that death be postponed by every means available is contrary to law and practice. It would also be cruel and inhumane.

There comes a time when continued attempts to cure are not compassionate, wise, or medically sound. That's where hospice, including in-home hospice care, can be of such help.

That is the time when all efforts should be placed on making the patient's remaining time comfortable. Then, all interventions should be directed to alleviating pain and other symptoms as well as to the provision of emotional and spiritual support for both the patient and the patient's loved ones.