This article offers a commentary on the report by Russel Ogden (2010/this issue) on the use of the "debreather" for suicide assistance by the NuTech (or New Technologies for Self-Deliverance) program. The emergence of NuTech is set within its historical and political context. Nu Tech is criticized for its anarchic and extreme advocacy of…

In his article in the current issue of Death Studies, "Can Suicide be a Good Death?" David Lester argues that each person should determine whether suicide is appropriate for him or her in relative isolation from the opinions of others. In the present article, I use a utilitarian ethical perspective to critique this assertion. According to…

The commentaries by Feldman and Leenaars are less than persuasive, insofar as they are grounded in an arbitrary and potentially inappropriate advocacy of communal rather than individual values; in unproven assumptions about the constricted and illogical reasoning of suicidal persons; in an implicit equation of their acts with "sins"; and/or in a…

The decision to withdraw life support from a loved one, especially in the absence of an advance directive, can be complicated and painful. This article is the author's personal account of her brother's brain injury, his resulting condition, and the choice made to allow his death. In addition, the author discusses how this experience affected her…

The social, legal, and political discussion about the decision to stop feeding and hydration for Terri Schiavo lacked a medical ethics assessment. The authors used the principles of medical indications, quality of life, patient preference, and contextual features as a guide to medical decision-making in this case. Their conclusions include the…

The author, a psychologist who has been specializing in end-of-life issues for over a decade, uses the death of his fiancee (Becky), following the withdrawal of a ventilator and the refusal to place her back on the machine, to discuss research and analysis of end-of-life care in the United States. After briefly discussing his own background,…

Considers Directive to Physician, Durable Power of Attorney for Healthcare Decisions, and Medical Ethics Decision Form. Notes importance of process individuals go through in defining what quality of life means to them. Sees current struggle being individual articulation of one's wishes based on personal definition of quality of life set forth in…