Why? Because it is one of those slippery slopes that descends into the realm of horror very quickly. Condoning assisted suicide for the terminally ill becomes assisted suicide for the sick, which becomes assisted suicide for the elderly, which becomes pressured assisted suicide for the burdensome. Good things like harvesting healthy organs from donors, DNR papers, and giving a relative power of attorney all become ugly and suspect.
Society should have some concrete absolutes. We do not practice cannibalism. We do not condone suicide.
Now having said that, there will be super rare cases where survivors of a plane crash in the Alps may eat the dead in order to survive, and those people should be treated with understanding and mercy. And there will also be an elderly husband that quietly and privately helped his dying wife do what she could not do on her own. And this too should be kept society's rare and tragic exception and should also be treated with tremendous understanding and mercy.
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AMA asks: “What would Hypocrates do?”