MR LOUIS Francis Albert appears to have confused euthanasia with the right of patients to refuse life-sustaining treatment, when he related that his cousin, who died of cancer, "wanted her doctor to stop giving her medicine so she could leave this world sooner", but lamented that "this was not possible as euthanasia is not legal in Singapore" ("Euthanasia and the death sentence"; Forum Online, Thursday).
Patient autonomy is a basic principle under the law. Every patient has the right to decide whether to accept or reject the treatment offered by his doctor.
If the patient is conscious, he may express these views to his doctor. If he is unconscious but has signed an Advance Medical Directive (AMD), doctors will not administer extraordinary life-sustaining treatment.
Thus, Mr Albert's cousin could have lawfully refused treatment by exercising any of these options.
The AMD is different from euthanasia and assisted suicide, in which doctors help patients to end their lives.
In assisted suicide, the doctor provides only the lethal prescription and the patient carries out the final act. In euthanasia, the doctor performs the lethal act.
Both euthanasia and assisted suicide violate the "do no harm" principle embodied in the Hippocratic Oath. In some versions of the oath, doctors explicitly vow: "I will not give anyone deadly poison, even when asked."
Hence, the World Medical Association has rejected both euthanasia and assisted suicide as unethical practices.
In a resolution affirmed just last year, it strongly encouraged all national medical associations and physicians to "refrain from participating in euthanasia, even if national law allows it or decriminalises it under certain conditions".
Palliative and hospice care is widely available in Singapore, and hospice practitioners are committed to improving the lives of the terminally ill and their loved ones.
To uphold and not violate the dignity of the human person, we ought to do all we can to eliminate the physical and mental suffering of our loved ones, but never at the expense of hastening their death through proactive means.
Edmund Leong
*Article first appeared on ST Forums (17 May)