by Barbara Dority

About the author: Barbara Dority was the founding president of Compassion in Dying, an organization that provides information on hospice care, pain management, and assisted suicide to patients who are near the end of their life. She is also vice president and newsletter editor of the Hemlock Society of Washington State, a group that seeks to legalize physician-assisted suicide.

It seems that many generally supportive people have begun to express grave reservations and questions and to reveal serious misconceptions about the legalization of physician-assisted suicide. After over a decade of direct involvement in the right-to-die movement, I feel partly responsible for the movement’s failure to adequately inform and educate those most inclined to support right-to-die efforts.

No Moral Distinction

Perhaps the most significant source of confusion for these individuals is the...