Swiss Hospitals Agree to Help Kill Patients

Christian Newswire ^ | 01/02/06

[bulldozer]

Lausanne University hospital, Switzerland has decided to permit assisted suicides starting from January 1, 2006. Assisted suicide has always been considered a form of active euthanasia . In addition to Lausanne, other leading Swiss hospitals are now actively discussing permitting the procedure. Though Swiss law initially did not allow doctors to kill their patients the practice of euthanasia has been gradually extended from private groups into the public health systems.

Extensive experience with euthanasia laws in other countries has revealed a consistent pattern. Assisted suicide is presented to the public as a last resort necessary to alleviate human suffering. Once this becomes acceptable to the public, the categories of people deemed expendable steadily expands to include those perceived to have a diminished value to society or to themselves.

In the Netherlands, doctors have been allowed to practice active euthanasia since 1973. While Dutch death regulations initially required that euthanasia be strictly limited to the sickest patients, it has been steadily redefined with the protective guidelines gradually eroded. As a result, Dutch doctors now legally kill the terminally ill, the chronically ill, disabled people and depressed people, on demand. Furthermore, repeated studies sponsored by the Dutch government shows that a significant number of patients are murdered by their doctors every year as a result of involuntary euthanasia.

[lizma]

Back in the 70's the Mass. Supreme Court ruled that the doctors and the families were too emotionally involved to make these kind of decisions and it should be left up to the state and their lawyers.

I don't think it takes any stretch of the imagination to see in what direction this will someday be headed. Just look across the pond for a preview.

[em2vn]

Hitler would be proud!

[ricardobaltazar]

That reminds me of a local news article I read recently. A terminally ill woman in the care of hospice decided to end her life by starvation. I was going to mention hospices earlier but I'm not too educated on them. I know that they provide end of life care but I don't know that the qualifications are and how closely they are regulated.

[Old Professer]

Why? So you can go easier, or so you can spread the blame around?

[ricardobaltazar]

Spreading the blame for what?

[Milhous]

Welcome to FR.

Such a provocative prolific poster right out of the chute. LOL. (Prolific in the sense of posting a lot of followups.)

[Galveston Grl]

Don't worry about suffering. The high doses of morphine they give to you to alleviate your pain kills you pretty fast along the way of managing pain in the terminally ill cancer patient.

The main thing you need is someone who cares for you looking out for you. Nurses were terribly unreliable to keep the morphine at a steady dose. They would forget to order it from the pharmacy and let it wear off in between doses and cause the patient to feel their body and suffer.

So, you need a private nurse or a family member watching out for your care when you are dying from a painful condition. There is no need for doctors to take up the practice and mindset of killing you. But you need private care to take care of the meds and other comforting tasks to make sure primary care medical staff do not permit you to suffer. Medical ethics focused on allevating suffering is far better than having a medical system where you have to watch to be sure doctors don't kill your family members upon their institutional convince and whim. Have you been paying attention to European doctors denying all care to folks they hate - smokers and fatties? These elitist idiots can not be trusted with an ethical system that gives them permission to rationalize making people suffer and die.

There is no way to look upon dying as easy. There is no easy out just like there is no easy birth. It is life. But we are all afraid of suffering while we die just like all women are scared about giving birth.

[Milhous]

There is no way to look upon dying as easy. There is no easy out just like there is no easy birth. It is life. But we are all afraid of suffering while we die just like all women are scared about giving birth.

Well said!

[Simo Hayha]

I highly recommend Culture of Death: The Assault on Medical Ethics in America by Wesley J. Smith.

[Sweetjustusnow]

"Would you have a problem with assisted suicide being a specialty field, ensuring that only those medical professionals who feel ethically sound about performing it would be doing so?"

Good idea. Now for a name.... how about death squad?

That sounds about right.

[presidio9]

I can only hope that when I get some horrible form of cancer that I will be allowed to have a trained medical professional help me end my pain when I choose.

You are confusing this conservative forum with a libertarian one that nught agree with your philosophy.

[Navy Patriot]

Welcome to FR.

May you never have pain or discomfort when your time comes, and may you never ask another to take what is not theirs to take.

[Chanticleer]

Euthanasia in the Netherlands has gone from voluntary to involuntary – in cases when a person is unable to make a decision. Someone has to make a decision about which lives are worth saving, worth living. I wonder what some of these pro-euthanasia doctors would have thought of the lives of people like Stephen Hawking or Joni Eareckson Tada?

Rob Houtepen, who teaches in the same department in Maastricht, also sees no reason for alarm in regard to this data. He testifies that he is quite liberal about termination of life when people are suffering, even if they are incompetent. He believes that compassion is the primary consideration for euthanasia. Autonomy is a secondary consideration.

Like that one, Libertarians? Remember the Netherlands has laws, rules and guidelines... but will they be followed?

Abuses will happen. The right to die will eventually become the duty to die. Why should you become a drain on your family and society? Doctors and family members will make decisions for ill patients based on their own values, even if they conflict with the patient’s wishes. . Children, the elderly, the poor and the disabled are particularly vulnerable.

In a study done in Dutch hospitals, doctors and nurses reported that more requests for euthanasia came from families than from patients. The family, the doctors, and the nurses often pressured the patient to request euthanasia.

It is a standard principle in our society that the benefit of the doubt goes to the weaker party. This is reflected in both our civil and criminal laws. We should as a society be committed to protecting the welfare of those least able to protect themselves.

Non-Voluntary and Involuntary Euthanasia in the Netherlands: Dutch Perspectives

[Tolerance Sucks Rocks]

If assisted suicide is allowed in this country, you may get your wish sooner than you think. :-(

[Max in Utah]

The right to die will eventually become the duty to die.

Especially in a socialist country which is feeling the pinch of paying for all the "free" stuff in its society.

What was that saying? "A government big enough to give you everything is big enough to take everything from you."

[Inkie]

Why put the guilt on him? Do it yourself.

[Inkie]

In Holland, they put down babies born with deformities. Who decides which ones live and which ones die will depend on who is assessing their "quality of life" on any given day. The whole thing is nothing short of eugenics and is quite sickening. Babies cannot ASK to be put out of their misery, so THIS IS MURDER.

[isrul]

"when I get some horrible form of cancer"You really believe it's a matter of when? Believing that must be depressing and it probably has an adverse effect on your quality of life. In a more progressive country, you wouldn't have to go on like that. a more progressive country would let you exit now and on your own terms. why wait until you get the horrible cancer you expect? Why do you want to have to worry about it. A more progressive country would help you now. No suffering now and no need to be concerned about future suffering.

[Galveston Grl]

Although we have a private health care system, we have plenty of people who talk like socialists and who act like socialists in trying to control "health care costs." We see employers right now justifying the cost of covering fatties and smokers in order to eliminate them from employment and coverage just like the European socialists do on a larger scale.