RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Physician-assisted death with limited access to palliative care
JF Journal of Medical Ethics
JO J Med Ethics
FD BMJ Publishing Group Ltd and Institute of Medical Ethics
SP 652
OP 654
DO 10.1136/medethics-2013-101953
VO 41
IS 8
A1 Barutta, Joaquín
A1 Vollmann, Jochen
YR 2015
UL http://jme.bmj.com/content/41/8/652.abstract
AB Even among advocates of legalising physician-assisted death, many argue that this should be done only once palliative care has become widely available. Meanwhile, according to them, physician-assisted death should be banned. Four arguments are often presented to support this claim, which we call the argument of lack of autonomy, the argument of existing alternatives, the argument of unfair inequalities and the argument of the antagonism between physician-assisted death and palliative care. We argue that although these arguments provide strong reasons to take appropriate measures to guarantee access to good quality palliative care to everyone who needs it, they do not justify a ban on physician-assisted death until we have achieved this goal.