“Rational Suicide”: the Question of Abandoning Life (IN: Thinking Clearly About Death by J F Rosenberg)

The issue of euthanasia is reviewed through a case study of a woman in her mid sixties who has just been diagnosed as suffering from an acute and progressive form of bone cancer. Issues reviewed include: choices; the case for and against interfering; a defense of paternalism; paternalism and suicide – pro and con; and rationality.