Word: lethal
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...secluded wood 55 miles east of Prague, smoking chimneys rise above the East Bohemian Chemical Enterprise. A large complex of ramshackle sheds and concrete buildings, the factory looks unprepossessing enough. But a "special production unit" is mixing batches of one of Czechoslovakia's most lethal exports: Semtex, the odorless, colorless plastic explosive of choice for terrorists the world over...
...doctors rather than lawmakers. If a patient is terminally ill and unconscious but has left instructions in a living will, 81% believe the doctor should be allowed to withdraw life-sustaining treatment; 57% believe it is all right for doctors in such cases to go even further and administer lethal injections or provide lethal pills...
...uncomfortable about withholding food and water, they are profoundly uneasy about actively assisting a suicide. Yet a seemingly / inexorable logic enters the picture: once it is acceptable to stand by and allow a patient to die slowly, why is it not more merciful to end life swiftly by lethal injection? What was once taboo is now openly discussed in academic journals: last March the New England Journal of Medicine published an article by twelve prominent physicians called "The Physician's Responsibility Toward Hopelessly Ill Patients." "It is difficult to answer such questions," the doctors wrote...
...active help with a suicide, most patients will have to look elsewhere, well outside the realm of patient care. The spread of AIDS, for instance, has prompted some right-to-die activists to offer support and counseling about pills and occasionally lethal injections to people with the virus. Pierre Ludington, 44, executive director of the American Association of Physicians for Human Rights, has tested HIV-positive: he is stockpiling pills to use when he is ready to go. "I get angry that society wants me to suffer in a hospital," he says. "All I'm doing is feeding its coffers...
...discover an astonishing sight: the army lines have been pulled completely back. The square is packed with Tadzhiks listening to their leaders addressing them through a microphone from atop a Soviet army APC. From Tadzhiks in the street we learn that the rattled authorities have agreed to halt lethal confrontations with the angry crowds. "The people demand the resignation of the government!" shouts one speaker. Others call for an end to the sale of pork in public markets, the punishment of soldiers and militia responsible for shooting civilians, even the departure from Tadzhikistan of all who are not Tadzhiks...