Published: November 05, 2008 08:44 pm      

DeKAY: Should state pull your plug?

“Euthanasia is a long, smooth-sounding word, and it conceals its danger as long smooth words do, but the danger is there, nevertheless.”

— Pearl S. Buck

•••

Do we no longer, as a society, have the courage and the conviction to allow our fellow citizens to grow old and to die a natural death?

In an interview with Church of Scotland’s Life and Work magazine, Baroness Helen Mary Warnock, a medical ethics expert and an adviser to the British government, stated that she believes people suffering from dementia should be euthanized. Ken Conner, president of the Center for a Just Society in America, said Warnock’s beliefs concerning people suffering from dementia are clear. Conner explained, “... [she] advocated in effect that the demented have a duty to die, that they are a waste to their family members and to the resources of the state.”

Holland is the first nation in the world to legalize euthanasia. Physicians in Holland use five guidelines as criteria for euthanizing a patient. They are as follows:

1. The doctor is convinced that the patient’s decision is not coerced and has been well-considered.

2. The doctor is convinced the patient is facing unremitting and unbearable suffering.

3. The doctor has advised the patient concerning his or her situation prospects.

4. The doctor and the patient have reached a fair conclusion together that there is no reasonable alternative solution.

5. At least one other independent physician has examined the patient and has formed a judgment concerning the requirements of due care.

Experts believe more than one in 10 deaths in Belgium is due to euthanasia or drugs given by doctors to hasten death. There is a similar number in Australia. In a study conducted in Holland, researchers from the Free University Brussels and Ghent University reviewed a random sample of all deaths registered over a four-month period. “In as many as 3.2 percent of cases — 1,796 deaths — lethal drugs had been given without the request of the patient.”

Do Warnock’s ideas — at least in part — stem from the fact that the National Health Service, which is the publicly-funded health care system of the United Kingdom, cannot afford to continue carrying the weight of all the people’s health care? Is this why she believes that those suffering from dementia and other degenerative diseases have a duty to die for the “good of society”?

In America, those born between 1946 and 1964 (inclusive) are called baby boomers. Bill Geist first noted (1997) in his book “The Big 5-Oh” that another boomer turns 50 every seven seconds. The actual figure may be closer to every eight and a half seconds. During the baby boomer years, 75.8 million Americans were born. Boomers today represent 28 percent of the U.S. population. As our population ages and the strain on the health care system increases, the question of euthanasia will surely be addressed.

Phyllis Bowman, executive director of Right to Life, says regarding euthanasia, “It sends a message to dementia sufferers that certain people think they don’t count and that they are a burden on their families.”

With a national health care program on the horizon, will Americans be forced to make end-of-life decisions based on costs to the government, inconvenience to the families and improved access to health care services? Most Democrats, including Obama, and some Republicans are pressing for socialized medicine in America. When the inevitable happens and national health care comes, will you or your loved one be forced to die an economical death of convenience?

When the state becomes mommy and daddy, you often get Mommy Dearest rather than June Cleaver.

For me, there is a huge difference between euthanasia (assisted suicide) and allowing a patient — through the legal mechanism of a living will or a DNR (do not resuscitate) — to die a natural death, without heroic life-saving measures. What are your thoughts? Write to me at pldekay@insightbb.com.

•••

“I’m not a vet; I do not put people down.”

— Doctor Adnan Siddiqu as broadcast on “BBC Talking Points”



“Thoughts from the Hungry Side of Daybreak” are written by Peggy DeKay, a business and freelance writer. She can be reached at pldekay@insightbb.com.