A right to suicide does not entail a right to assisted death.
Many people believe that it is permissible for people who are suffering from terminal illnesses to commit suicide or even that such people have a right to commit suicide. Some have also argued that it follows that it is permissible for them, or that they have a right, to use the assistance of another person. First, I assume that it is permissible for a person to commit suicide and ask whether it follows that it is also permissible for the person to employ an agent to assist in the death. Second, I assume that people have a right to commit suicide and ask whether it follows that the right holders have a right to employ an agent to assist with the death. I argue that the permissibility of suicide does not by itself entail the permissibility of employing someone to assist in the suicide. I also argue that the right to commit suicide does not by itself entail the right to assisted death. Instead, what follows is that there is a right not to have unreasonable restrictions placed on the means by which one can exercise one's right to commit suicide. Whether a restriction is reasonable depends on the conclusion reached when one has weighed a number of policy considerations.
Gunderson
M
M
Macalester College, St Paul, Minnesota, USA.
D004992:Ethics, Medical; D028601:Euthanasia, Active; D006801:Humans; D010686:Philosophy, Medical; D012297:Right to Die / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence*; D012926:Social Control, Formal; D013405:Suicide / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence* / Q000523:psychology; D017236:Suicide, Assisted / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence* / Q000523:psychology; D019452:Terminally Ill / Q000523:psychology