Deathly quiet: Euthanasia

[Guest guest]

-

Deathly quiet: Euthanasia

 

 

 

Deathly quiet

 

-------------------

 

 

http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=27217

 

By Brian Johnston

© 2002 WorldNetDaily.com

 

 

The first of this month, April 1, 2002, marked the official legalization of

euthanasia in the Netherlands. With the enactment of the Euthanasia and

Assisted Suicide Control Act, doctors who terminate their patients may do so

according to statute. But it is widely known that for the last 20 years,

Dutch physicians have been routinely dispatching their patients with

impunity.

 

Therein lay both a lesson and a warning for us.

 

We are well aware that the euthanasia movement seeks to change the laws that

currently protect the medically and emotionally vulnerable, but often their

methods are to first skirt and violate those laws long before they change

them. And that is exactly what is happening in the United States today.

 

Throughout the United States, physicians who support euthanasia are

routinely utilizing a special form of " terminal sedation, " not as a means of

pain control, but with the explicit intention of intentionally causing

death. This is routinely being used on patients who are not in immediate

danger of dying, but are in other ways considered " incurable " or " hopeless. "

 

Essential to this approach is the mandatory withdrawal of hydration. It is a

form of euthanasia that is particularly difficult to monitor. As David

Orentlicher, a pro-euthanasia physician, points out in the New England

Journal of Medicine, " Terminal sedation seems consistent with accepted

practices . however terminal sedation is tantamount to euthanasia, or a kind

of slow euthanasia " (Vol. 337, No. 17:1237).

 

Orentlicher, also an advocate and " ethicist, " has made a point of traveling

the nation instructing sympathetic physicians not to bother with the law or

attempts to change it. Euthanasia can safely be practiced under the guise of

terminal sedation.

 

" Just do it, " he told the California Conference on Physician Assisted

Suicide.

 

Similarly, Robert Brody, the chair of the Ethics Department at UCSF Medical

Center and a board member of the pro-euthanasia group Compassion in Dying,

instructs his student physicians that " terminal sedation " is an acceptable

and appropriate form of " near euthanasia. " He encourages its practice as

part of the " logical continuum " that will lead to the necessary legalization

of assisted suicide.

 

But Dr. Rex Greene, a California oncologist and advocate for the medically

vulnerable, is alarmed at the highjacking of aggressive sedation.

 

" The insistence that hydration be removed is not valid, " says Greene. " It is

very rare that its provision is burdensome. In fact, I have routinely found

that adequate hydration is necessary to alleviate terminal delirium.

Insisting that hydration be withdrawn as a form of treatment belies their

real intention, which is to kill. "

 

The significance of this ongoing practice should not be lost on those who

seek to maintain legal protection for the vulnerable. This gradual

acceptance of intentional killing was the cornerstone of the Dutch program,

and is an essential tool of euthanasia advocates.

 

Meanwhile, in the Western states, Compassion in Dying is in the midst of a

public relations campaign to " expand choice at the end of life. " It is

targeting churches, community groups, media outlets and the elderly

community.

 

In California, the Hewlett Foundation has funded a think tank that seeks to

blend the concept of physician-assisted suicide with end-of-life care. Other

states are also seeing clever, indirect appeals for " compassion " using the

emotions and good intentions of uninformed citizens. Pro-life citizens

should be aware of, and monitoring these projects.

 

In Oregon, while Attorney General Ashcroft has sought to prevent the use of

federally controlled substances to kill, the " safeguards " in the law itself

are routinely being ignored. Reports abound of " suicide " killings of the

non-terminally disabled and " doctor shopping " when an attending physician

refuses to agree that killing is warranted. .

 

In Hawaii, Gov. Cayetano has personally proposed legalization of

physician-assisted suicide, and the bill quickly raced through the lower

house. Action awaits in the state senate.

 

Last election cycle, the citizens of Maine turned back a ballot proposal on

physician-assisted suicide. But we need to bear in mind that the margin

(barely more than 1 percent) was extremely close.

 

Our work is cut out for us.

 

We need to remember " changing of the law " is only the end game for

euthanasia advocates. As in the Netherlands, we must recognize that they are

quietly moving ahead with their agenda.

 

Shrouded in subtlety, the euthanasia movement is continuing in advancing its

agenda. Talk about it now. Alert others. Remember, the goal of the

euthanasia movement is to make changing the law a mere formality.

 

 

 

----------

----

 

Brian Johnston is Western Regional Director for the National Right to Life

Committee. His book, " Death as a Salesman: What's Wrong with Assisted

Suicide, " and a subsequent documentary with the same title, have been

instrumental in thwarting attempts to legalize assisted suicide both in the

states and abroad. Both book and video are available on Amazon.com.

 

 

 

 

 

----------

 

 

§*§*§*§*§*§*§*§*§*§*§*§*§*§*§*§*§*§*§*§*§*§*§*§*§*§*§*§*§*§*§*§*§

 

§ - PULSE ON WORLD HEALTH CONSPIRACIES! §

 

Subscribe:......... -