‘Right to die’ and the implications.
In light of the recent Terri Schiavo case in the United States, it is perhaps a good time to recall that at stake is not simply one person's situation, as significant as that is. The question of how law regarding the so-called ‘right to die’ is formulated and applied is continually present in the background.
Research in the Netherlands suggests that as euthanasia law has been progressively liberalised in that country, so active involuntary euthanasia (also known as ‘murder’) has spiralled out of control.* This research is deeply alarming and suggests that individual cases need to keep the broader ethical debate constantly in mind.
*See Jochensen and Keown, ‘Voluntary euthanasia under control? Further empirical evidence from the Netherlands’, Journal of Medical Ethics 1999;25:16-21.