FREE NEJM E-TOC    HOME   |   SUBSCRIBE   |   CURRENT ISSUE   |   PAST ISSUES   |   COLLECTIONS   |   Search Term  Advanced Search

Sign in | Get NEJM's E-Mail Table of Contents — Free | Subscribe

Previous Volume 337:1852-1854 December 18, 1997 Number 25 Next

	Since this article has no abstract, we have provided an extract of the first 100 words of the full text and any section headings.

	Full Text Purchase this article Add to Personal Archive Add to Citation Manager Notify a Friend E-mail When Cited Related Article by Kassirer, J. P. Related Article by Batavia, A. I.

To the Editor: In his article on physician-assisted suicide (June 5 issue),¹ Mr. Batavia fails to address the issue of the "slippery slope," which is the point of the analogy with Nazi Germany. The scenario there was that initially the state passed laws that allowed physicians, by order of the state, to sterilize the criminally insane. Then, during a period of unanticipated social and political upheaval, the definition of "sterilize" was gradually broadened to include "euthanize." Simultaneously, the definition of "criminally insane" became broadened to include "enemies of the state," which eventually included members of most religious orders and Jews.

. . . [Full Text of this Article]

References

HOME  |  SUBSCRIBE  |  SEARCH  |  CURRENT ISSUE  |  PAST ISSUES  |  COLLECTIONS  |  PRIVACY  |  TERMS OF USE  |  HELP  |  beta.nejm.org Comments and questions? Please contact us. The New England Journal of Medicine is owned, published, and copyrighted © 2009 Massachusetts Medical Society. All rights reserved.