Posted on 08/06/2011 1:36:22 PM PDT by wagglebee
A tragic letter was published in the current British Medical Journal (no link). It is from a Dutch doctor who has twice euthanized patients, but now prefers terminal sedation, in part, because of the stress killing causes her. She ends her letter on a poignant note. From the BMJ BMJ | 6 AUGUST 2011 | VOLUME 343:
Although as a doctor I favour euthanasia, as a person I find it hard to perform. It is a great burden on my personal life and causes me extreme stress. The days before I performed my second (and so far last) euthanasia were very emotional. I shifted between enjoying life and extreme sadness that life had nothing to offer my patient that could make up for the suffering she experienced. There is also the stress of doing it right and waiting to see whether the committee decides you abided by the rules and will not prosecute.
Euthanasia law grants a patient the right to determine what is and is not psychologically and physically bearable. As a doctor I sometimes feel caught between my desire to do well and the fact that I have to be the means to a patient’s self determination. I wanted to be a doctor to help patients, not to kill them.
Allena M Silvius general practitioner, Leyden, Netherlands
So, don’t kill them, Dr. Silvius. It is a line no doctor should cross. Killing isn’t medicine. Euthanasia isn’t mercy. It is abandonment.
Still, this letter illustrates a point rarely made: Euthanasia/assisted suicide isn’t ultimately about “patient choice,” but that of the doctor. If you ask to die and he or thinks your life not worth living, you get the poison. If not–of if it upsets the doctor’s “personal life” too much–you don’t.
Exactly right!
Then do it your damn self. It's called suicide. If you want to end your life, don't drag anyone else into it....just do it.
She's BSng people. She loves it!
The problem is the anxiety associated with having to wait around for the committee to tell her it's OK to DO IT.
This is a darned good reason to NEVER EVER have reason to visit a doctor, and certainly not a hospital in any country (or state) that allows "assisted suicide" or "euthenasia".
Just don't go there. Don't go to Oregon, Nederland, Washington, Montana (I think), Switzerland, Belgium.
They have enough people to kill there already ~ it's simply not worth the risk.
I personally would never seek the services of a physician or nurse who had ever worked in those places, or who'd gotten a degree there.
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Consciencious objection is a nono in Chicago when selling ru486, I hear... only when it involves the military.
It’s a sure government business paycheck, the suicide squad...
Then that “doctor” should shut the heck up. If she’s putting dollars ahead of human life then she should suffer.
I have no pity for her or her cohorts.
I think this is what many abortion advocates feel.
They’ve been told it’s all about “choice”, or women’s rights.
But if they have to sit through an abortion, I’ll bet their gut tells them, this is wrong. And then they spend a lot of time they don’t discuss with us, wrestling with their conscience.
Right on!
Of course, the Nazis took bright, sensitive “accolytes” eschewing the actual dirty work, and, made them....managers who “did well”. Sounds like she is just looking to be kicked upstairs for a better pay scale, by bemoaning her present job. Europe has vast ladders for aspiring bureaucrats to ascend, and the ladders dedicated to “euthanasia” are not lacking. There are probably at least 10-15 managers above the actual needle placers and drug administrators and paperwork preparers for the “euthanasia” industry in Europe.
Sieg heil.
Response: No it is not abandonment. It is murder.
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