Duty to Die

Duty to Die:

Well, you've probably seen this interview:



The President appears to be saying not that the 105 year old lady should have chosen to die, but that others who did not have her... what?... should choose to take pain pills instead of having lifesaving surgery.

The actual question is not answered. The actual question was very much tied to the issue of the lady's "what?": spirit, joy of life, strength, it's hard to say. The actual question was: Would that be taken into account?

The answer is: No, it won't. How can any bureaucracy develop standards to judge it, when we can't define exactly what it is?

Protein Wisdom is writing about this as well. They look at the experience of others who have gone down this road.

Many old people now fear Dutch hospitals. More than 10% of senior citizens who responded to a recent survey, which did not mention euthanasia, volunteered that they feared being killed by their doctors without their consent....

As the cost of socialized medicine in the Netherlands grew, doctors were lectured about the importance of keeping expenses down. In many hospitals, signs were posted indicating how much old-age treatments cost taxpayers. The result was a growing “social pressure” from doctors and others, says Arno Heltzel, a spokesman for the Catholic Union of the Elderly, the largest Dutch senior-citizen group, which favors voluntary euthanasia. “Old people have to excuse themselves for living. When they say that all of their friends are dead, people say, ‘Maybe it is time for you to go too,’ rather than, ‘You need to find new friends.’"

This is the picture of a society that has no respect for the concept of a Right to Life, but a very clear picture of a Duty to Die. We must break this magic.