In Brazil a doctor may have killed up to 300 patients because she wanted to free up beds, she said,”the patients were taking too long to die.” She even recruited a team of helpers. Doctors killing patients is actually happening a lot more in countries where euthanasia is allowed.
Belgium has passed a bill that now allows children to be euthanized, against many pediatricians angry protests. Children are suggestible, and there are concerns by doctors they will be pressured into ending their lives.
Belgium has now extended euthanasia to include killing the depressed, elderly, disabled, even the imprisoned. I wonder who will be next, healthy people that are inconvenient, or that are in the way taking up a bed? What about you the reader, ever been depressed? When someone is in the state of Depression their decision making, and outlook on life is different from when they recover. Depression can lift, or be treated, but euthanasia is irreversible!
A friend of mine’s grandmother was 94 and they were making her comfortable in palliative care, doctors said she was dying. She received the last rite, and did a complete turn around. She is still alive 2 years later, is living with a good quality of life, and happy to be alive. I wonder if she had lived in Belgium if she would be here today, not likely! We never fully know how long someone has, and we should not rob them of whatever time they have.
A study done In Belgium revealed 66 people out of 208 were euthanized without giving consent, or requesting it. In the Netherlands 1 in every 5 is euthanized without consent or request.
The United Nations has said they are very concerned about Human Rights violations, because the patient may not have been given proper informed consent, or fully understand, and be euthanized against their wishes, it is hard to police, and that has been happening! Incidences of abused euthanasia/murder are becoming more common in the Netherlands also. One physician walked into a patient’s room and lethally injected her against her will, and against her own doctor’s orders. When the angry doctor asked him, “why did you kill her?” his reply was, “she would have taken too long to die, and I wanted the bed.” She was resting pain free, surrounded by her family, and it was estimated she had days, even up to a week before she would die. If I have a few days left of my life I want them, wouldn’t you? Who knows what can happen in that time.
Once the monster of Euthanasia is let loose in a society, regulating it fully, with safeguards, and controls, is a ridiculous illusion, that has already completely been proven impossible! It is naive to think it can be totally controlled. When the decision of life, or death is left in another persons hands, it is open to mistakes, and all people are fallible!
It becomes an easily abused licence to kill in the hands of the unscrupulous,
and there are always unscrupulous people out there, with no value for human life. The legal systems in those countries are increasingly also turning a blind eye on prosecuting physicians that are killing people against their will. Another terrifying thought is some doctors have said they are becoming desensitized to killing their patients. Stating the first time it was very hard to kill, then it got easier, and easier to just execute.
So what is the solution? Good ethical palliative care!
A good palliative care program that does not sneakily euthanize, can make a huge difference in care. The argument of “they are suffering, it’s humane,” just does not apply fully at all. I have interviewed Oncology Pain Management nurses who specifically work on pain management, they stated, “most pain can be properly managed with the right medications, and properly trained professionals, thus improving quality of life.” I have had family die this way and it is with dignity, and painless. People can make that death transition a lot easier for both the patient, and their family. They can live until the time they are supposed to die, not when someone decides they are a burden, and kills them out of convenience.
What is going on in Belgium, Netherlands, and Brazil is a lesson we should be learning from here in North America, and not making the same mistakes. If those very civilized countries have gone down that slippery slope what proof do we have that we won’t do the same. In summary euthanasia cannot be fully controlled it’s already been proven, this needs to be banned!
