Posted on 08/10/2008 3:15:39 PM PDT by rhema
Most inhumanities start small, like the beginning of a tsunami, but then build, as they head toward inevitable and unstoppable destruction.
It is difficult to pinpoint the precise beginning of the cultural tsunami that has devalued human life. Did it begin with the subjugation of women? Did it begin with slavery? The Nazis made their contribution with the Holocaust and Josef Mengele's hideous human experiments. Surely unrestricted abortion added to the growing list of inhumanities.
Now we have the next wave. Randy Stroup is a 53-year-old Oregon man who has prostrate cancer, but no insurance to cover his medical treatment. The state pays for treatment in some cases, but it has denied help to Stroup. State officials have determined that chemotherapy would be too expensive and so they have offered him an alternative: death.
Oregon's physician-assisted suicide law allows taxpayers to pay for someone to kill Stroup, because it's cheaper than trying to heal him. How twisted is this? Some have called this a "chilling" corruption of medical ethics, but medical ethics have been in the deep freeze for some time. The American Medical Association, which once strongly opposed abortion, now buys into the "choice" argument despite Hippocrates' admonition that physicians make a habit of two things—"to help, or at least to do no harm."
In a culture that values all life, difficult decisions can be made about a life that is at an end and should be allowed to "go." That is a far cry from having a government bureaucrat or panel of "experts" play God and decide, based on cost alone, when your or my life no longer has value in the eyes of the state.
How we view and value ourselves affects how we view and value others. If we are mere evolutionary accidents with no moral value greater than cole slaw, then we quickly begin viewing others as part of the vegetable family. But if we are something far more special, even to the point of having a Creator who has "endowed" us with value beyond that of gold, silver, and paper money, then should we not be treated as such, even by the state?
The Randy Stroup case won't be the last of its kind. Just as Jack Kevorkian's illegal assisted suicide preceded its legalization in Oregon, so, too, will Randy Stroup be the test case in what amounts to mandated medical euthanasia ordered by the state.
When pro-lifers warned about the "slippery slope" more than three decades ago, they were dismissed as alarmists. Not anymore. Their prophecy is being fulfilled.
I was talking to our Attorney General in Washington State and he did not like what is going on in Oregon. Too many helpless old folks being pushed into taking the shot.
“Prostrate cancer”?
"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelologus
Slippery slopes always empty into the Abyss.
"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelologus
You are pretty generous with other people’s money? First we start paying people to live? What next do we have to feed them as well? Pay for their housing? You should just join the socialists over at DU.
This is a good thing for conservatives and America, it’s time we stopped paying people money to live. He could have bought his own insurance.
ping
"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelologus
Only to the point where it starts costin you money?
I think you’d be more comfortable with those Socialized Medicine freaks over in DU - this guy had the chance to buy health insurance, instead he pissed it away on some other nonsense, if he didn’t care about his health why should we?
If the state is paying for it, they don’t have the right to make the choice. What next? Should the state start paying for our food? Our home? Our Car?
I’m getting sick and tired of these irresponsible bloodsuckers leaching off the hard working taxpayer, maybe when they realize the State isn’t going to come in and save their life, they’ll start acting like adults and take some responsibility for their own lives.
Please cite your source.
It’s always amazed me how many man don’t know the right name for this. It’s hard to believe Cal Thomas would make that mistake.
If he had a good excuse for not buying health insurance, they would have mentioned it in the article. It’s like when some thug gets shot up by cops - they’ll never mention the arrest record a mile long because that would make the cops look good.
Opinions supported by baseless assumptions are worth less than popcorn farts. You are very big on assumptions and demonstrably very short on facts. As to your assumption of my comfort level with the "socialized medicine freaks" over at DU, normally, I would be greatly offended by such. However, considering the source of the assumption, it’s more of an annoyance like that of a yapping Pekingese.
When you are told you have prostate cancer, you throw yourself on the ground?
Being pro-life does not mean that you’re obligated to steal money from some stranger X to buy medicine for another stranger Y. Unless you’ve gone to the dark side, health care is not a right but a service.
If you have the money, you can pay for the service. If you purchased appropriate insurance, you can pay for the service. If you can convince a bunch of friends or strangers to put up the money as a gift or charity, you can pay for the service. If you can convince the doctor and/or the drug company to work for nothing, then maybe you can get the service anyway.
But if none of those are true, and you can’t come up with the money, then it’s time to start praying, not whining.
No, really inform me what are the good excuses for not buying health insurance?
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