2016/08/01 by Daniel P. Sulmasy, John M. Travaline, Louise A. Mitchell +1 · 1 citation
Medicine · Health Professions · Psychology · Nursing · #Palliative Care and End-of-Life Issues #Ethics in medical practice #Patient Dignity and Privacy #Faith #Harm #Slippery slope #Physician assisted suicide #Assisted suicide #Palliative care #Medicine #Pain and suffering #Psychology #Psychiatry #Law #Nursing #Political science #Social psychology #Philosophy #Epistemology
paper · doi:10.1080/00243639.2016.1201375
openalex publication_date 2016/08/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/23
This article is a complement to “A Template for Non-Religious-Based Discussions Against Euthanasia” by Melissa Harintho, Nathaniel Bloodworth, and E. Wesley Ely which appeared in the February 2015 Linacre Quarterly. Herein we build upon Daniel Sulmasy's opening and closing arguments from the 2014 Intelligence Squared debate on legalizing assisted suicide, supplemented by other non-faith-based arguments and thoughts, providing four nontheistic arguments against physician-assisted suicide and euthanasia: (1) “it offends me”; (2) slippery slope; (3) “pain can be alleviated”; (4) physician integrity and patient trust. Lay Summary: Presented here are four non-religious, reasonable arguments against physician-assisted suicide and euthanasia: (1) “it offends me,” suicide devalues human life; (2) slippery slope, the limits on euthanasia gradually erode; (3) “pain can be alleviated,” palliative care and modern therapeutics more and more adequately manage pain; (4) physician integrity and patient trust, participating in suicide violates the integrity of the physician and undermines the trust patients place in physicians to heal and not to harm.