Deactivating Pacemakers is Not Assisted Suicide

Katy Butler, a teacher in California, wrote an article about the struggles her parents went through due to procedures that prolonged her father’s life too long. Katy’s father was given a pacemaker which caused his body to far outlive his brain. Katy’s mother had to painfully witness his mental and physical deterioration as well as take care of him for years.

Although pacemakers can be deactivated without surgery, doctors declined to turn off the pacemaker upon Katy’s mother’s request. Katy’s father had executed a living will indicating that he did not want life support, but the document did not define a pacemaker as life support. Further, no cardiology association had issued clear guidance on whether deactivating pacemakers was ethical. Katy’s father passed away in 2008.

In May 2010, the Heart Rhythm Society and the American Heart Association declared that patients or their legal surrogates have the right to request withdrawal of medical treatment, including a pacemaker. They clarified that deactivating a pacemaker is neither euthanasia nor assisted suicide. They also stated that a doctor opposed to the deactivation cannot be forced to do so, but that such doctor should assign another doctor to the patient.

See Katy Butler, What Broke My Father’s Heart, N.Y. Times, June 14, 2010.