Abstract
[...]it is the presence of the already-existing underlying illness that distinguishes these euthanasia cases from plain suicide and seemingly accounts for the much different attitudes people expressed in the survey.[...]we need to determine whether the doctor-assisted suicide case is morally different from the plain suicide case.Since we've already established (and most people seem to agree) that plain suicide is not justified, then doctor-assisted suicide could only be justified if it is significantly morally different from plain suicide.[...]the moral prohibition on suicide is simply an expression of the age-old truth that it is wrong to intentionally kill an innocent human being.[...]I think that such a suicide would still be wrong, not because the convicted murder is in a state of moral innocence, but because he would not have the legitimate authority to execute himself.