Physician-Assisted Death

To the Editor: According to Ganzini and Block (May 23 issue), 1 “experts assert that with excellent palliative care, most requests for hastened death would not be made.” They consider rates of physician-assisted death of 10 to 20 percent, as reported for patients with cancer and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) in the Netherlands, unacceptably high. Expert opinions offer no proof or strong evidence in this regard. The rate may also depend, for example, on “moral questions surrounding life, suffering, and death.” 2 Population polls in the Netherlands have repeatedly shown that a majority is in favor of physician-assisted death in well-defined circumstances, . . .