考研英语2005 Text 2 全文翻译如下：
Text 2:
The Supreme Court's decisions on physician-assisted suicide carry important implications for how medicine seeks to relieve human suffering. Although it ruled that doctors could not help lethal injections to end a patient's life to comply with a patient's request, the Court in effect supported the medical principle of "double effect," a centuries-old principle in which a harmful act may be justified if it is intended to alleviate a greater evil.
The case before the Court involved Dr. Jack Kevorkian, who was sentenced to prison for assisting in a patient's suicide. The Court's decision noted that while physicians have long been expected to maintain life, a good doctor will know that, sometimes, this involves taking life. The Court's position was clearly stated by Justice Sandra Day O'Connor: "A competent patient has a constitutionally protected liberty interest in deciding whether to terminate life sustaining medical treatment."
The Court's decision also has implications for how the medical profession views the end of life. Dr. Kevorkian's case was a challenge to the medical profession's long-standing rule that a doctor should never, under any circumstances, directly cause a patient's death. This rule, known as the "do-no-harm" rule, has been the cornerstone of medical ethics. However, the Court's decision suggests that there may be circumstances under which the rule can be bent.
The Court's decision also raises the question of whether physicians should have the legal authority to prescribe lethal doses of medication to end a patient's life. The Court did not directly address this issue, but it did indicate that the issue of physician-assisted suicide should be decided by state laws, not federal law. This suggests that if a state chooses to allow physician-assisted suicide, it would be legally permissible.
The Court's decision is likely to have a significant impact on the way doctors and patients approach the end of life. It may lead to more open discussions between doctors and patients about end-of-life care options, and it may encourage greater attention to the ethical and moral issues involved in end-of-life decisions.
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