Treat patients—don’t kill them

Carolyn Schierhorn's April article, "Death With Dignity: DOs Weigh Ethics in End-of-Life Care," really got my attention. It was full of facts and stats, one of which was that, according to a survey conducted by Thomas A. Cavalieri, DO, 42% of DOs would "prescribe a medication for a competent person to use with the primary intention of ending his or her life if it were legal to do so." It is extremely disappointing that our profession has become so desensitized over the generations that we are at a point where one could flip a coin to get a pro-life or a pro-death DO.

I agree with the AOA's stand on this issue, and I also agree to stand by the osteopathic oath, which was quoted in the article: "I will give no drugs for deadly purposes to any person, though it may be asked of me."

We cannot allow future generations of DOs to go to osteopathic medical school, graduate and take the osteopathic oath, and then practice as if they should be able to do whatever a patient or the government tells them. Where are the ethics and professionalism in that?

Of all the physicians out there, DOs should be the ones with a spine. We should be the ones taking the lead in protecting patients and finding ways to make them comfortable at the end of life—not just saying, "I guess there is no option but to kill you."

My rhetoric may be abrupt, but I know where I stand. I can truly state that I am a physician of substance who believes in the oath I took at graduation and the principle that the AOA stands for. I hope future AOA officers and delegates follow the current ethical and moral guidelines that have carried the profession this far. If we begin to compromise, then down the slope we all shall go.