"At the end of many a person's life, and sometimes even in the middle, if not even at the beginning of his or her expected life, there comes a moment of uneasy decision: it is a moment at which not infrequently he or she, and even more often those who care for him or her - his or her relatives, his or her carers and his or her doctors - are forced to decide whether they are to contribute, by some possible action (or by not doing so), at least to some extent, to bringing that person's life to an end. These end of life decisions can be of varying drama and character. For the purposes of this review, I will distinguish four types among them: the first, with which it will be convenient to begin, is the decision to lethal analgesia – the use of pain relievers, in the knowledge that they may cause (or are likely to cause) a more rapid death of the patient; the second type I will discuss is the various forms of abandonment of life support; third, the decision to committing suicide or assisting in suicide; the last, a decision to euthanasia. Taking these types of decisions in turn, Each time, I will try to consider whether, at least in some cases - and if so, in which cases - they are morally justifiable. For it is clear that each of the decisions highlighted – by the very fact that it contributes to a greater or lesser extent to ending the life of a certain person - requires some justification."
Vladimir Galevich