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Medicine and the Holocaust
The Editors welcome submissions for possible publication in the Letters section. Authors of letters should:
•Include no more than 300 words of text, three authors, and five references
•Type with double-spacing
•Send three copies of the letter, an authors' form signed by all authors, and a cover letter describing any conflicts of interest related to the contents of the letter.
Letters commenting on an Annals article will be considered if they are received within 6 weeks of the time the article was published. Only some of the letters received can be published. Published letters are edited and may be shortened; tables and figures are included only selectively. Authors will be notified that the letter has been received. If the letter is selected for publication, the author will be notified about 3 weeks before the publication date. Unpublished letters cannot be returned.
Annals welcomes electronically submitted letters.
TO THE EDITOR:
In their editorial on medicine and the Holocaust, Lerner and Rothman [1] wonder whether an ethic of “do no harm” can be reconciled with physician-assisted suicide or aid-in-dying [2, 3]. I would suggest that the word “harm” can be viewed differently depending on one's perception of the experience.
In December 1973, the House of Delegates of the American Medical Association adopted a resolution condemning mercy killing but condoning passive euthanasia. Rachels [4] took issue with this doctrine. When a patient is dying a slow and painful death, a lethal injection could be quick and painless, that is, more merciful. Passive euthanasia could be interpreted as a decision to prolong agony. Rachels concludes that “so, whereas doctors may have to discriminate between active and passive euthanasia to satisfy the law, they should not do any more than that. In particular, they should not give the distinction any added authority and weight by writing it into official statements of medical ethics.”
This issue is much like the current intellectualizations about quality of life. What matters is who is deciding the “quality.” Is it your quality of life or mine?
Nathan Schnaper, MD
University of Maryland Cancer Center; Baltimore, MD 21201-1595
The Editors welcome submissions for possible publication in the Letters section. Authors of letters should:
•Include no more than 300 words of text, three authors, and five references
•Type with double-spacing
•Send three copies of the letter, an authors' form signed by all authors, and a cover letter describing any conflicts of interest related to the contents of the letter.
Letters commenting on an Annals article will be considered if they are received within 6 weeks of the time the article was published. Only some of the letters received can be published. Published letters are edited and may be shortened; tables and figures are included only selectively. Authors will be notified that the letter has been received. If the letter is selected for publication, the author will be notified about 3 weeks before the publication date. Unpublished letters cannot be returned.
Annals welcomes electronically submitted letters.
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