EUTHANASIA:
Convenience..... Not Compassion
Dr. Kervorkian has been stripped of his license to practice medicine.
He's
notorious for assisting in the suicides of his patients, the last three
of
which weren't even terminal. Hopefully, that action will send a strong
message out to all of those physicians who advocate "Aid In Dying".
Euthanasia is widely practiced in Holland, even though it's against the
law.
It's "overlooked" as long as doctors report the cases to the authorities,
knowing that there is an open agreement not to enforce the homicide law.
But a recent study (The Dutch Government Report on Euthanasia) reported
that
only 15% of the Dutch Doctors reported themselves. In 1990, 1030 Dutch
patients were killed without their consent. Of these, 140 were fully
competent and 110 were only slightly mentally impaired. Another 14,175
patients (1701 of whom were mentally competent) were denied medical
treatment without their consent, and died. In the report, the Remmelink
Committee documented that 27% of the Dutch Doctors admit to having
practiced
euthanasia on patients who had not given permission, and 41% would be
willing to do so.
Dr. Leon Kass (bioethicist/University of Chicago) voiced his concerns,
stating "the trust patients have for their physicians is based on an
ancient
code of ethics, The Hippocratic Oath, which reads, 'I will neither give a
deadly drug to anybody if asked for it, nor will I make a suggestion to
this
effect' ". He went on to say that "the very nature of medicine is a
healing, not a killing profession".
Imagine this scenario.... "Doctor Assisted Suicide" is legal in
Florida.... You've been in the hospital for a long time, and your savings
(your children's inheritance) is slowly dwindling away. You're awakened
in
the night by a nurse coming in to inject a syringe into your IV line,....
Will fear overcome you? It shouldn't.... But it will. Dr. Edmund
Pellegrino (Center for the Advanced Study of Ethics at Georgetown
University) reported that older and handicapped people are fearful of
entering Dutch hospitals. In fact, older Dutch Physicians told him that
THEY'RE fearful of entering their OWN hospitals.
If our country succumbs to these "Aid In Dying" initiatives, we'll begin
to
see "suicide clinics" going up everywhere (as we did with abortion).
They'll be staffed by 2 doctors, since 2 will be the magic number
required
to make the "fatal" decision, who'll target groups representing the
elderly,
physically and mentally handicapped, as well as family members who are
just
too inconvenienced to care for their parents (again, just like abortion).
Lawyers are already arguing for the new legal doctrine of "substituted
Judgment", where a person's right of "self-determination" is extended to
a
third party, as in the Nancy Cruzan & Christine Busalacchi cases. Both
were
brain injured by auto accidents. They were NOT on life support; they
were
initially hand fed, but had been converted to feeding tubes for long term
care. They could follow you around the room with their eyes. In fact,
Christine could speak simple words, move her hands and legs ON REQUEST,
form
emotional attachments, smile, and interact with people in her room. They
were NOT dying, and were NOT on any kind of life support systems. But
their
parents convinced the courts that it was their daughters' wish that they
would want to die. Since there was no life support to disconnect, the
courts determined "sustenance" to be "life support" and therefore allowed
(forced) the medical staff to discontinue their food and water. In
essence
they were painfully starved and dehydrated. Less than 2 weeks later,
both
girls were dead.
I might add, that in BOTH cases, Pro-Life organizations petitioned the
courts to adopt the girls with the commitment to care for them and work
with
them for the rest of their lives. Their petitions were denied. The
courts
decided on behalf of the inconvenienced parents, that they should be
killed
on the basis of someone else's estimate of what kind of life is worth
living.
Derek Humphrey (Founder and President of the Hemlock Society) has also
expressed his desire to see "terminal health care" extended to
handicapped
and Alzheimer's patients. He calls this "compassion", however compassion
is
CARING for people, making them comfortable, and easing their pain......
Not
killing them.
Those in support of Euthanasia are confusing "compassion" with
"convenience".
And the slippery slope slips ever steeper.
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