Right to die bill left for now
A good post by Norm on the bill concerning assisted suicide, which was blocked by the Lords, but will return in six months. It examines the letter by Dr. Rowan Williams, Cardinal Cormac Murphy O'Connor, and Sir Johnathan Sacks. I can't add much to it, as his arguments seem flawless to me. I will, however, comment on the following sentence in the cleric's letter. It forms part of argument 2) on Norm's post.
Such a Bill cannot guarantee that a right to die would not, for society’s most vulnerable, become a duty to die.
That is not what the Bill is about. It allows patients who wish to end their suffering and die early to do so. It does not, and should not, force patients to sign away their life if they do not want to. A "slippery slope" towards people having a duty to die should be avoided at all costs.
The Bill will resurface in six months, and I hope it will finally be approved. Popular opinion has been consisently in favour of such a bill for the last decade or so.
-posted by Roy
Pick a society.
Stoic Romans calmly killing themselves? Yes, and slaves were killed for minor offenses, and babies thrown out.
Ditto for ancient Greece.
Modern Russia in the 1920s legalized euthanasia for awhile it was misused and they had to change the law.
Modern Netherlands is now killing babies with meningomyelocoels because they are "incurable", never mind it is treatable and every doc has a couple of these kids, some in their twenties, in their practice.
WHat happens is losening of the taboo against killing, so soon it is used for lesser and lesser reasons.
Many deny the slippery slope doesn't exist, but not only euthansia but abortion and marriage itself prove how easily the use for "hard" cases soon led to it's use for trivial reason, and in marriage the denial that a contract to protect women and children was even necessary...
Pain will always be with us. Suffering and pain is not the same. And in Oregon, most suicides under their law are for being helpless, not for pain...
And if you think that in an aging Europe, euthanasia for economic reasons won't soon evolve, then you are naive.
Ironically, what might prevent this is that Muslims don't believe in Euthanasia... (Comment this)
I certainly agree the Right to Die bill should not be used to kill babies from incurable but livable diseases. That, I don't think, is not the point of the bill either. It's just allowing people to commit suicide. I don't think it's possible to ban suicide, and in my opinion it shouldn't be.
Can I just ask: is economic euthanasia people being killed because it is no longer economically viable to support them, a bit like the "duty to die" mentioned by the clerics? I'm not sure if it's not inevitable, or if I hope it's not inevitable... (Comment this)