Posted on 07/02/2011 5:45:37 PM PDT by decimon
First Things discusses a concept that is supposed to be gaining ground in the UK: the duty to die. The key concept in Duty to Die is to remove control over life extension therapies from the doctor to policy.
Dr Brian Keighley, chairman of the British Medical Association Scotland, said in some cases tens of thousands of pounds were spent on drugs to extend cancer patients’ lives for relatively short periods. Speaking ahead of his organisation’s annual meeting, the GP said the country had to debate the merits of these kinds of aggressive treatments and the effects they had on the NHS budget. But he stressed any decision had to be made at a society level, rather than being left to doctors.
“Who pays the piper, calls the tune”. When medical care becomes socialized, medical decisions are inevitably made by the government. People may disagree over whether this is a good thing, but that it is so should not be in dispute.
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The ultimate irony would be if “assisted suicide” turned out to be not some affirmation of the ‘freedom to end your life’ as much as a ploy to dump the dying offstage to save money to buy the votes of the living. The notion that we need the government’s permission to be free or drink poison seems funny when you think about it. Dr. Keighley’s argument that “any decision had to be made at a society level, rather than being left to doctors” is one more rejection of the idea that the individual, not the state, owns his life. Back in the day people thought they owned themselves and this was one reason why slavery was regarded by some as an abomination.
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(Excerpt) Read more at pajamasmedia.com ...
Don’t forget Time Magazine’s piece a couple of years ago entitled, “The case for killing granny”.
Just priming the pump for the next big thing, psychobabble political BS. It will one day be deemed “patriot” to go ahead and die and not have it cost the state for your care.
Are the Brits becoming downright macabre, or what? This is one of the most morbid things I’ve ever read.
The average Briton had better get a grip on their government and their culture, before the whole thing implodes.
Placemark.
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