Faye J. Girsh

In the following viewpoint, Faye Girsh argues that it should be legal for doctors to respect the wishes of terminally ill individuals who request assistance in committing suicide. A majority of Americans support the legalization of assisted suicide, Girsh claims. She maintains that physicians already help patients to die; legalizing the practice, in her view, would make it subject to safety regulations and less prone to abuse. Girsh insists that physician-assisted suicide is consistent with a doctor’s obligation to relieve suffering, and that the option would be limited to the terminally ill. Faye Girsh is director of the Hemlock Society, a national right-to-die organization based in Denver, Colorado.

As you read, consider the following questions:

1. According to the poll that Girsh cites, what percent of people over fifty-five agreed that terminally ill people have...