A terminally ill patient’s pain is unbearable. Will his doctor assist in his death?

Selzer-Richard_Mercy

Richard Selzer, Mercy

Richard Selzer, Mercy (with highlights)

Richard Selzer, Mercy (vocabulary)

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Discussion Questions

1. “Mercy” explores the ethics of euthanasia (ending the life of a patient with terminal illness). Why do you think the patient’s wife and mother push for his death. but the doctor hesitates? Why might this decision be more difficult for the doctor than the patient’s family?
2. Do you think the patient understands that the doctor is offering to end his life, rather than merely ending his pain? What evidence do you see either way?
3. Why does the doctor find it so hard to end the patient’s life, even though it seems that the patient and his family consent?
4. The doctor says “I cannot. It is not in me to do it. Not that way” (119) after the medication has failed to kill the patient and the doctor considers strangling him instead. Why is strangulation so much more difficult for the doctor?
5. Do you see a difference between using a different method to kill a patient, if in the end the outcome is still the same? Why or why not?
6. The patient’s mother tells him to “Go home” (118) and the doctor repeats this later on. What do they mean by this? Where is “home”?
7. Why are there so many mentions of animals in the story? What do these references add to the story, and how do they change your reading of this piece, if at all?
8. What do you think of the doctor pricking himself with the morphine syringe that was supposed to end the patient’s life?
9. At the end of the story, the patient has not died, and the doctor tells his family “He isn’t ready yet” (119). The patient’s mother responds: “He is ready…you ain’t.” What might she mean by this?