Thomas A. Preston

Thomas A. Preston argues in the following viewpoint that the verb “to kill” merely means “to deprive of life” and should not necessarily have negative connotations. While doctors who practice assisted suicide do indeed “kill” their patients, Preston asserts, these doctors are not murderers because they do not act with evil intent. Furthermore, he contends that there is no ethical distinction between allowing a patient to die and assisted suicide; both are killing, he maintains. Preston is a doctor and professor of medicine at the University of Washington in Seattle.

As you read, consider the following questions:

1. What is incorrect about Daniel Callahan’s argument that legalization of euthanasia will lead to the “right” of physicians to kill, according to Preston?
2. In the author’s view...