U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden, a Democrat from Oregon, reportedly will try and block legislation that would outlaw physician-assisted suicide in his state — the only one in the union that allows such a measure, which the Supreme Court has upheld.
Kansas Republican Sen. Sam Brownback's bill would prohibit doctors from prescribing drugs that would help a patient die.
Society's moral conventions become murky when the law allows death in the name of "medical treatment," Brownback argues. And the chronically ill and vulnerable may end up viewing such measures as acceptable, he added.
Wyden argues that the government should not intervene to override an individual's wishes and values.
What do you think?
Charleton Heston cries, "Soylent Green Is People!" in the 1973 movie "Soylent Green," where the infirm and aged are euthanized and converted into nutritional biscuits to feed the younger, more valued members of society.