Posted on 05/23/2006 4:34:55 PM PDT by wagglebee
PORTLAND, May 23, 2006 (LifeSiteNews.com) - A new study shows that the psychological effects of "helping patients to die" can be severe for doctors participating in euthanasia and physician assisted suicide (PAS). The report by the group Physicians for Compassionate Care Education Foundation (PCCEF) gleans data from a number of sources articles in independent medical journals, legislative investigations and the public press.
The study is among the first of its kind and says the effects on doctors of the inversion of their traditional medical function can be "substantial".
"Doctors describe being profoundly adversely affected, being shocked by the suddenness of the death, being caught up in the patient's drive for assisted suicide, having a sense of powerlessness, and feeling isolated. There is evidence of pressure on and intimidation of doctors by some patients to assist in suicide."
The author concludes, "Many doctors who have participated in euthanasia and/or PAS are adversely affected emotionally and psychologically by their experiences."
The study quotes a doctor from the Netherlands, the first country to legalize euthanasia: "Many physicians who had practiced euthanasia mentioned that they would be most reluctant to do so again."
Pieter Admiraal, a leader of Holland's euthanasia movement is quoted saying, "You will never get accustomed to killing somebody. We are not trained to kill. With euthanasia, your nightmare comes true."
One doctor said that he worried that legalization would limit clinical options offered to patients by doctors who grow to rely upon euthanasia as a quick fix. Dr. Zylicz, responding to a British questionnaire is quoted saying, "This is my biggest concern in providing euthanasia and setting a norm of euthanasia in medicine: that it will inhibit the development of our learning from patients, because we will solve everything with euthanasia."
The PCCEF study corresponds with reports by German authorities during the second world war that showed negative psychological effects on the doctors and nurses involved in the government sponsored euthanasia program T-4. The program was authorized by Hitler and at first focused on handicapped and orphaned children and mentally disabled adults who were starved to death or killed by lethal doses of medication.
In his landmark 1997 book, Origins of Nazi Genocide, Henry Friedlander reported that the psychological condition of nurses and doctors involved in the quasi-legal euthanasia program suffered alcoholism and serious mental disorders after prolonged stints working in the killing centres.
Read the full article from Physicians for Compassionate Care:
http://www.pccef.org/articles/art44.htm
Your "nightmares" don't compare with what Hell will be like for you.
DISCUSSION ABOUT:
Study Finds Docs Who Assist Suicides Suffer "Substantial" Psychological Effects
Any "effects" the Culture of Death suffers do not compare to what they deserve.
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Culture of Death Ping.
Effect? Or cause?
I mean, you have to be pretty whacked to assist someone in committing suicide...
Umm..there is a reason God has a command "Do not murder", yes?
Once a society adjusts to the idea of mothers killing their babies and doctors killing their patients, the idea of the government 'offing' a few thousand dissidents isn't such a stretch.
Are there any reports of doctors with a conscience refusing to take part in the "procdure"?
Get the abortion doctors to do it. Killing doesnt bother them. Anyone who can suck the brains from a viable baby cant have any problem injecting and old timer with poison.
They would probably even enjoy it.
Excellent post. Needs to be said. Research has shown that even dentists die younger than other types of medical caregivers because of the infliction of fear and pain. Thanks for posting.
Was going to ping you to this when I saw the title.
Anyone who doesn't "suffer psychological affects" by killing people is worse than an animal.
Any studies on abortion doctors - MOST especially, late term = They aren't just assisting someone who wants to die. They are doing the killing
Hammer meets nail.
Our lexicon of terms is increasing:
State sponsored murder
bioethicking
legal homicide
And these doctors of death are trying to convince us that these murders are "pleasant" and even "euphoric" or "beautiful" for everyone, so why does it give them nightmares?
They are, sick, creepy and macabre, not the products of a healthy mind.
BTW, I never refer to Kevorkian with a "Doctor" before his name. The liberals have distorted and destroyed enough formerly noble or normal words in our language to add one more. The word "gay" comes to mind readily.
Leni
As Sophie Scholl said to her Nazi tormenters, "We will not be silent. We are your bad conscience. The White Rose will give you no rest."
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