IMPOSED DEATH - A Good Definition of Euthanasia and Assisted Suicide
By Kevin Roeten (08/05/07)
If you haven't been involved before, it's likely you will be. Euthanasia and Assisted Suicide are considered acceptable actions for those who want to be killed. It's even considered compassionate for those that might be in pain. It seems that we have already been sliding down a slippery slope. The only question is "When do we hit bottom?"
Euthanasia, or mercy killing, means an act or an omission intended to cause death in order to eliminate suffering. There is no moral distinction between act and omission that causes death, because the victim is equally as dead. Assisted suicide(something in which a doctor could be easily involved), means use of drugs, a gun, plastic bag, instructions for their use, etc…
Some doctors seem to do the above all the time. Oregon’s Death with Dignity Act became operative in 1995. In 2006, the Supreme Court ruled (6-3/ Gonzales vs. Oregon) that Ashcroft and Gonzales were wrong, and that the federal government did not have the authority to prohibit doctors from providing federally controlled drugs for assisted suicide.
We know that in 2001, the Netherlands(Holland) legalized assisted suicide and euthanasia. In 2004, their Groningen University decided to permit its doctors to euthanize children under the age of 12 with or without the parents consent. In 2002, a Belgian law allows physicians to euthanize adult patients. In 2005, pharmacies in Belgium began selling “euthanasia kits” for ~60 Euros. In Switzerland, Dignitas(headquartered in Zurich) assists foreigners who want to die. There, Lausanne University Hospital decided to permit assisted suicides starting 1/1/06.
It seems people are assuming too many things. We seem to be assuming that some people may be in too much pain to take—maybe even for the murderer. We are assuming that existing medications cannot reduce the pain enough, when almost 100% of people take medications such as aspirin to morphine already. That the person suffering will not recover, and that it’s up to someone to ‘act’. That the suffering actually want to die. That we are the accessory necessary to put humans out of their suffering. That we can assume to know what’s best for another. And the worst--we are God enough to decide when ‘life’ is worth living, and when it’s not.
It’s easy to calculate just how far down the slope we’ve slid. The phases in order are:
A) Feeling we know when taking another life is permissible.
B) We agree with laws permitting the killing for ‘quality’ of life sake.
C) Making the judgment that killing a life might be worth the act if it helps others with needed body parts.
D) Actually becoming directly involved in killing a human for any of the above reasons.
E) Killing one because their quality of life does not meet the typical standards.
F) Killing one because their quality of life does not meet our standards.
G) Killing someone because of the perceived notion that more people on this earth will threaten our life.
Wait a second. Haven’t we already digressed down that slope through Phase E? Considering existing evolution, how long until we reach Phase G?
It doesn’t seem too far at all to the end of that slope. And when we get to the end, there may be hell to pay. Unfortunately, the last sentence is likely quite literal. How many of us are comfortable taking the chance that this may not be true? As was stated by “Imposed Death”, “Legalizing medical murder does not change a crime into a medical treatment. Rather, it turns the law itself into an accessory to murder.”
REFERENCES
1. Eighth Annual Report on Oregon’s Death With Dignity Act (3/9/06)
2. Ibid.
3. Stevens, Kenneth, M.D.; “Latest Assisted Suicide Report Should Be Cause for Alarm”; The Oregonian(3/12/04)
4. Smith, Wesley J.; “Now They Want to Euthanize Children”; Weekly Standard(9/13/04)
5. Hewitt, Hugh; “Death by Committee”; Weekly Standard(12/2/04)
6. Whitlock, Craig; “Branching Out to Serve a Growing but Dying Market”; Washington Post(11/1/05)
Kevin Roeten
http://kevinroeten.us/
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