Factors to consider before participating in a hastened death: issues for medical professionals.

An emerging problem that health professionals face in working with terminally ill patients is how to respond to the concerns and conflicts that emerge near the end of life. Most important are those that challenge the traditional healing, caring and therapeutic roles. Among these, perhaps none has drawn as much attention as the issue of physician-assisted dying--particularly what has been termed assisted suicide. Although the ethics of assisted dying have been actively debated by ethicists for decades, the topic is now being discussed with increasing frequency in medical, psychiatric, psychological, and legal journals. Interest has been driven by the interrelationship of changing public opinion, demographics, and the nature of the dying process; admissions of assistance by numerous physicians; and several statewide attempts at legal change, culminating in a successful voters' initiative in Oregon.