Welcome to Canada, the Doctor Will Kill You Now

Suicide is neither noble nor natural. “When you see someone on a high ledge ready to jump,” Charles Krauthammer wrote in January 1997, “you are enjoined by every norm in our society to tackle him and pull him back from the abyss.”

That principle became less clear with the advent of physician-assisted suicide. Krauthammer was writing about Vacco v. Quill, in which the Supreme Court would hold unanimously that the Constitution doesn’t create a right to that procedure. “We are being asked to become a society where, when the tormented soul on the ledge asks for our help in granting him relief, we oblige him with a push,” Krauthammer wrote, reflecting on the oral arguments.