The Oregon Paradox

Abstract

When terminally ill people are given the option of legally hastening death, they often feel a sense of greater well-being and a desire to live longer. In my explanation of this paradox, a terminally ill person has two selves. The right-to-die empowers the future self to gain control of suffering at the end of life. That makes the present self, who has empathy with the future self, feel a surge in well-being and the desire to live a longer life.