Death without dignity. “…recent evidence suggests that attempts at

physician-assisted suicide often meet with unexpected

complications. What’s more, almost no one in the medical

community is doing anything about it…Doctors are apparently hungry for information. Steven Heilig,

director of the Bay Area Network of Ethics Committees, an

umbrella organization for the region’s hospital ethics

committees, recalls a meeting at which two physicians from

the Netherlands gave a presentation on the Dutch system of

physician-assisted suicide: ‘Someone asked a clinically

specific question — I think it was about dosage — and this sea

of pens suddenly emerged, poised to write down everything

they said.’ ” Salon