Physician-assisted suicide is the practice in which a physician prescribes a lethal medication to a terminally ill patient as a form of active, voluntary euthanasia. These patients, rather than suffering slowly and painfully, often request this procedure to experience a more “dignified” death. The debate surrounding this issue is heated, particularly among the general public whose attitudes are profoundly influenced by the level of pain and discomfort of patients (Frileux et al. 334). At the heart of the problem is the conflict between the patient's right to choose between life and death and, as one social scientist put it, "society's obligation to protect its most vulnerable members from a hasty and not entirely voluntary death” (Ardelt 424). The healthcare field recognizes the role of medical technology, which has extended the lives of many patients through life-sustaining therapies such as feeding tubes and dialysis, in creating a lower quality of life characterized by an agonizingly prolonged and costly death (Martin 54). This phenomenon has made medically assisted suicide a very relevant and unavoidable issue today. But while some defend physician-assisted suicide as a form of medical autonomy for the terminally ill, others argue that voluntary euthanasia is too extreme a solution in most situations and that improving care for the terminally ill patients and palliative care is a more acceptable option and would help maintain the patient-doctor relationship. The purpose of this literature review is to present these scientific perspectives with the goal of providing a relatively comprehensive overview of attitudes related to physician-assisted suicide in the medical community, with a view to comparing them to public opinion. ..... middle of paper ......acceptable anasia?." Journal of Medical Ethics. 29.6 (2003): 330-6. Print. Martin, Brian J. "Techniques to transmit: technology and euthanasia." Bulletin of Science, Technology and Society. 30.1 (2010): 54-9. Web. October 28, 2011. Martyn, Susan and Henry Bourguigon. “Physician Decisions About Patient Capacity: The Trojan Horse of Physician-Assisted Suicide.” Psychology, Public Policy, and Law. 6. (2000): 1-13. Printed. Momeyer, Richard A. “Does Physician-Assisted Suicide Violate the Integrity of Medicine?.” » Journal of Medicine and Philosophy. 20.1 (1995): 13 -24. Print. Twycross, Robert J. "The Doctor's View of Euthanasia." Journal of Medical Ethics 8.2 (1982): 86-95.. 2011. .