Concept of unbearable suffering in context of ungranted requests for euthanasia: qualitative interviews with patients and physicians

This is an interesting paper, highlighting the differences between
doctors and
patients in their assessment of suffering but I find it quite
extraordinary that
there is a notion that someone other than the patient can assess whether
or not
a patient's suffering is 'unbearable' . It's a nonsense to suggest that
doctors
can; only the patient from his/her unique perspective can know what is
tolerable
and what is unbearable. Are doctors content to let others make judgments
on
their own quality of life? I very much doubt it. We can't second guess
patients in
this matter, it's their suffering, not ours.

Competing interests:
None declared