DATE: Tuesday, March 25, 1997               TAG: 9703250267

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B6   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY MARIE JOYCE, STAFF WRITER 

                                            LENGTH:   36 lines

DOCTOR SPEAKS TODAY ON RISKS OF SUPPORTING ASSISTED SUICIDE

As the assisted-suicide movement gains momentum, a Virginia doctor is warning Americans to think hard about the dangers.

Dr. Carlos F. Gomez, an assistant professor of medicine at the University of Virginia, has said assisted suicide poses a danger to ``people living in the margins of society,'' those who who are hard to take care of, like the elderly poor and the mentally ill.

He also has said the option of assisted suicide would create a feeling of mistrust between seriously ill patients and their doctors.

Gomez, a physician and medical ethicist, will offer his views in a lecture, ``Care of the Dying Patient,'' today at Eastern Virginia Medical School.

The talk, free and open to the public, is sponsored by the Friends of the Eastern Virginia Medical School Library.

Gomez has written ``Regulating Death,'' the first English-language book about the practice of euthanasia in the Netherlands.

His research has made him a prominent figure in the debate over care for the dying in America. He has appeared on ``60 Minutes'' and in many publications. He has testified against Dr. Jack Kevorkian, one of the most famous proponents of assisted suicide in the United States.

While interest in the topic has grown among the general population, medical schools have worked to add issues of death and dying to the curriculum. Last fall, EVMS held its first seminar on the topic for third-year students as they prepared to spend more time in hospitals.

Gomez will speak at 5:30 p.m. in the auditorium of Hofheimer Hall on the EVMS campus. ILLUSTRATION: Photo

Carlos F. Gomez

Send Suggestions or Comments to webmaster@scholar.lib.vt.edu