Death with dignity or life with health care rationing

The observations made of Oregon's Death with Dignity Act are reassuring to the extent that they accurately state that patients who seek relief under t he Act view it as a mechanism to further their autonomy. But, given the nat ure of social data gathering, including the potential for response bias and self-validation, and the degree to which the concept of ''autonomy" is ope n to a broad or narrow interpretation, one has to be careful not to accept this finding at face value. It is also reassuring to read that contrary to what some people have supposed, the presence of an option to hasten death h as not had a chilling effect on the prescription of pain medication. At the same time, however, the authors believe that it is important to ensure tha t these expressions of autonomy-based reasoning are indeed valid and authen tic.