"In the Netherlands, where assisted suicide and euthanasia are common, a 1983 study showed that more requests for euthanasia come from families than from patients....

"My four years of research on assisted suicide and euthanasia, largely in the Netherlands, shows that Dutch doctors called in such cases usually advocate euthanasia. They invariably support the relatives' desire to be free of the burden of caring for the patient. My work also shows that acceptance of euthanasia in the Netherlands has reduced interest in alleviating pain and suffering; euthanasia becomes an easier alternative -- even when a patient is not terminally ill.

"A 1989 Swedish study showed that when chronically ill patients attempted suicide, their overburdened families often did not want them resuscitated. But when society stepped in and relieved the family's burden by sending in home care helpers, most patients wanted to live and their families wanted them to live too.

"In America, it is time to provide a solution -- affordable_home care -- that does not pit patients and families against_each other.... Under Medicaid and Medicare, such help varies_by state and should be made more consistently accessible to_all.

"...Only when our society accepts its share of_responsibility will patients ... really have a choice.*"

Herbert Hendlin, professor of psychiatry at New York Medical College, and Executive Director of the American Suicide Foundation, in a March 21, 1996 letter to the editor of the New York Times.

* Emphasis added.