First, misdiagnosis, and inaccuracy in terminal diagnoses are common in medical practice. Furthermore, the risk of coercion, and manipulation should not be …show more content…
The image of “compassionate healers,” which doctors throughout generations have painstakingly forged, will be forever smudged as “death-bringers.” The maleficent intentions of a few “doctors” will stain the reputation of each and every physician. How are we supposed to entrust ourselves or our loved ones to the care of a physician who we know performs assisted suicide? The reason why medicine is held in the highest esteem by our society is because it has steadfastly stood by the Hippocratic Oath---“primum non nocere,” first do no harm. It works mutually: it reinforces the doctor’s commitment to beneficence and at the same time the patient’s sense of assurance. If this fundamental cornerstone of the medical profession is shattered, the entire practice of medicine, as we know it, will cease to exist. It will generate an atmosphere of distrust and trepidation in patients toward their doctors and animosity amongst doctors who stand firm in medical orthodoxy versus those who serve an entirely different