Why the Hippocratic Oath Prohibits Physician-Assisted Suicide

November 20, 2019 | by T.A. Cavanaugh

The Hippocratic Oath rightly prohibits doctors from giving deadly drugs, even if autonomous patients ask for them. By assisting in the suicide of a terminally ill patient who wants to determine the manner of his death, the physician inappropriately medicalizes mortality itself. He also jeopardizes the welfare of other vulnerable patients.