Use of Hospice

Around one-third of those who die in the United States use hospice services, for a median of 17 days. Women and whites are especially likely to use hospice care. In addition, most hos- pice clients are older than age 65 and rely on Medicare to pay the costs.

Because Medicare only pays for hospice care for six months, hospices lose money if their clients survive beyond that time period. As a result, hospices

If we accept that death can be a rational choice, then harder questions follow. Why is it rational only if one’s condition is terminal? Doesn’t it make even more sense to end the life of someone like Elizabeth Bouvia, whose agonies may continue for another 50 years, than to end the life of someone who will die soon regardless? Why should this choice be forbidden to individuals simply because they can’t—physically or emotionally—carry it out themselves? And why should we allow individuals to choose death only through passive euthanasia, leaving them to languish in pain while awaiting death when they could be killed quickly and painlessly?

Opponents of this view argue that the duty to preserve life overrides any other values and that euthanasia is merely a nice word for suicide or murder. They question whether Elizabeth Bouvia would have wanted to die if she still had the resources she needed to live independently, and they wonder whether euthanasia gives society a way to avoid responsibility for relieving the burdens imposed by illness and disability.

In sum, the use of euthanasia, whether active or passive, raises numerous difficult questions: What are the consequences of effectively declaring it reasonable for disabled people to choose death? What pressures does this place on individuals to end their own lives rather than burdening others? What responsibilities does this remove from society to make these individuals’ lives less burdensome? Finally, given that social factors such as age, gender, and social class affect our perceptions of individuals’ worth, how do we ensure that society won’t more willingly grant a right to die to women, minorities, or other socially disvalued groups?