BMJ 1996;313:227 (27 July)

Letters

Jack Kevorkian: a medical hero?

Better palliative care is the answer

EDITOR,--Sadly, the BMJ seems to be continuing its misguided policy of campaigning in favour of euthanasia (or its identical twin, physician assisted suicide).1 Yet again,2 we are subjected to an editorial by authors from a country other than Britain whose vision for those who suffer or are dying is clouded by local factors, including one sided coverage in the media and a lack of freely available good quality palliative, continuing, or long term care.

It is perhaps ironic that, in the same issue, the editor proudly announces in Editor's Choice that he has finally found a measure in which the BMJ leads the world--namely, wit and humour. Unfortunately, this accolade seems to extend to sick humour. Declaring Jack Kevorkian ("Dr Death") a medical hero is about as sick as one can get. Perhaps the authors of the editorial do not appreciate that the Oxford . . . [Full text of this article]


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