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Walking the Line
Denise A. Niemira, MD
Arch Fam Med. 1995;4(12):1003-1004.
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THERE IS supposed to be a line that separates acts of killing from acts of allowing to die, that divides doctors who kill from doctors who provide comfort care, that distinguishes the angel of death from the angel of mercy. In the world of treating the dying, this line sometimes seems to fade in the face of a final agony that can be relieved only by unconsciousness and the disquieting knowledge that death can sometimes be most desirable.
It was a planned-for death, rather than a planned one. I met him when he was terminal. He had crossed that line separating those of us who can pretend we are immortal from those who know we are not. His physical universe had shrunk to the dimensions of his parents' house and to the length of his oxygen tubing. He was no longer willing to make the 2-hour trip to the
. . . [Full Text PDF of this Article]
Author Affiliations
Orleans, Vt
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