Cristina Alarcon:Mixing conscience and medicine is a good thing (National Post blog)

Let me tell you about Jane*. Jane was in her 60s and had been my patient for many years. As her pharmacist, I knew she had been battling depression for a long time, but she was always chirp and cheerful when she walked into the pharmacy for her monthly pills.

Slowly, she started going downhill. Medications were not helping and she said she just wanted to die. One day she came in and asked specifically to see me. From her pocket she pulled out several tablets, one I recognized as a powerful narcotic, the other a sleeping pill. She said, “My friend gave me these … how many would I need to take to make sure I die?”