Just parsing the emotional and moral challenges raised by physician-assisted suicide is a daunting task. For the terminally ill, it’s an opportunity to decide for themselves when they have suffered enough. But others argue that it can be used as a lethal weapon against the indigent, when treatment becomes “prohibitively” expensive. Doctors must wrestle with their Hippocratic Oath, which tasks them to “do no harm” — often balancing it against the needs and distress of patients. And some in the healing professions feel that death with dignity can be better achieved through other means.

As New Jersey ponders a bill that would legalize physician-assisted suicide, these questions become increasingly urgent.

Battle lines are already being drawn. The Medical Society of New Jersey opposes the bill, citing its support for alternative treatments for the end of patients’ lives, as well as the potential implications for medical ethics. The New Jersey Hospice and Palliative Care Organization is also against the measure, arguing that hospices provide appropriate care that could be better utilized than it is currently.

But the bill has also drawn support from healthcare professionals, many of whom cite their professional and personal experiences for backing the measure. And some national healthcare groups allow doctors to aid patients’ deaths, including the American Public Health Association, whose members range from social workers and nutritionists to doctors and nurses who design and implement public-health policies.

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