For example, there has been much debate about the difference between the accepted practice of withholding life support or some other treatment, knowing that the patient is likely to die without it, and the contested practice of actively helping a patient to die. Smith’s ruling finds that “a bright-line ethical distinction is elusive,” and that the view that there is no such ethical distinction is “persuasive.”
比如说，对于生命维持或是其他疗法——明知患者在撤除治疗后将会死亡——的可接受行为，以及积极协助病人结束生命的争议性行为两者之间的区别。史密夫的裁定认为“难以找到一个明确的道德分界线”而那些认为不存在这种道德分界的观点是“有说服力的”。她考虑并接受加拿大著名哲学家韦恩·森纳（Wayne Sumner）所提出的观点：如果道德允许病人在特定病情且力所能及的情况下实施自杀，那么医生为病人提供所需的手段在道德上也是可以容许的。