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The Threat Of Involuntary Euthanasia, Part II
Walking Around The Neighborhood
By Rocco Martino, For The Bulletin
Mike had been haranguing me at length over the growing power of the bureaucracy in making decisions about healthcare; and his growing concern that this could affect the continuation of life. He was vitally worried about the potential for undesired euthanasia coming as a byproduct of officially sanctioned euthanasia-on-demand.
These issues concerned me greatly. Surely the mechanisms we had in place in our medical and legal systems would prevent abuses. In fact, the bureaucratic involvement in healthcare had led to many important developments; and, in fact, had probably contributed greatly to the increase life span of people in our country.
“Mike,” I said, “hasn’t bureaucracy been beneficial in many respects? Don’t you think the great strides made in longevity in this country are due to Medicare for the elderly and the medical research system for all of us?”
“Of course. We owe a great debt to the original concept of Medicare, and to the great strides made in the past by the FDA in protecting us from the release and use of medications that will hurt us. The thalidomide disaster in the 1960s in the rest of the world resulted in many children being born without arms or legs. The FDA refused to approve that drug for pregnant woman in the United States, which created a great swell of pride, admiration, and approval for the work of the FDA. It is only recently that the FDA has been caught up in this all-pervasive notion that they know better than anybody else what is good for us. They want to tell us what cereals are good to eat, whether or not we can use our own stem cells to generate tissue for our own bodies, and soon, whether or not we can continue to live.”
“But Mike, isn’t that a little far-fetched?”
“If I were twenty, I’d say it was far-fetched. At eighty, I’m not sure. I have seen too many changes in my lifetime- some of them good, and some of them absolutely terrible. I remember when I was growing up in the 1930s. We were in the midst of the terrible Depression. We also had a polio epidemic and people would be paralyzed and even die within a day or two. We were told to stay away from crowds during the summer of 1937 and ‘38, the height of that epidemic. But that’s all. The polio vaccine created by Dr. Jonas Salk and later enhanced by Dr. Albert Sabin has virtually wiped out that disease. So hats off to the government and research for that one, and to the pharmaceutical industry for follow-up.
Now we live in a whole new environment. Today the bureaucrats have taken over and they will tell us how long we can spend in a hospital, what operations we can or can’t have, what medications they will pay for and for how long, and now they want to tell us that creating stem cells from our own bodies will require a nine to ten year clinical trial before it can be used. It's ridiculous, isn’t it?”
I was stunned. I had looked at the statistics and like everyone else, was edified at the increase in the life expectancy in our country and of the stories I read every day of the medical miracles performed by our scientists. In the back of my mind, however, I started recalling that other countries had a longer life expectancy than we did. It seemed that Japan and France had a much longer life expectancy than us. In fact, my memory told me that we were somewhat down the list, certainly above the developing countries but well down the chain in the industrialized nations. I decided to check this out.
“Mike”, I asked, “how is our national life expectancy?”
Mike smiled a little ironically. “Last year we were 38th on the list in the world. Many countries have a life expectancy at birth of over 82, some as high as 86. Ours is only 78 or so. Only a few years, but significant.” He went on. The French and the Japanese outlive us.”
I was taken aback. With all our science and technology, with our huge research budgets, we were only 38th. As I mulled this over, the idea of the survival rate of newborn children came to mind. I asked Mike again. Back came the answer.
“We’re better than a lot of countries, but not the best. Once again Japan and France beat us. Our rate is about two and a half times higher than the best in the world.”
Mike had stunned me into silence. I wondered at his fear of enforced euthanasia. It seemed a little far-fetched to me, so I pushed him a little farther.
“Mike,” I began, “why are you so concerned that a move will begin to get rid of the old and the infirm?”
Mike looked at me a little sadly. “It’s happened before. Euthanasia is permitted in Holland now and there are many stories that some of those put to death are involuntary situations. In 2006, it has been reported that 19.4 percent of the deaths in Holland were a result of euthanasia and that more than one in ten of the total number of such deaths in that country were involuntary- undesired.
“Mike, is involuntary euthanasia what I think it is?”
“Yes — when the patients say, “I don’t want to die,’ and the doctors say, ‘well you are going to…' So the fact that euthanasia on demand is permitted in some of our states concerns me. Euthanasia on demand is permitted in other countries around the world like Belgium, Switzerland and Thailand to name a few. My fear is that it could happen here!”
The wind picked up. My dog huddled closer to me. I felt a thin shiver. I didn’t know if it was the cold or Mike’s chilling words of warning.
Dr. Martino is Founder and CEO of CyberFone Technologies, Inc.; and a Senior Fellow of the Foreign Policy Research Institute. He can be reached via e-mail at rmartino@thebulletin.us.
These issues concerned me greatly. Surely the mechanisms we had in place in our medical and legal systems would prevent abuses. In fact, the bureaucratic involvement in healthcare had led to many important developments; and, in fact, had probably contributed greatly to the increase life span of people in our country.
“Mike,” I said, “hasn’t bureaucracy been beneficial in many respects? Don’t you think the great strides made in longevity in this country are due to Medicare for the elderly and the medical research system for all of us?”
“Of course. We owe a great debt to the original concept of Medicare, and to the great strides made in the past by the FDA in protecting us from the release and use of medications that will hurt us. The thalidomide disaster in the 1960s in the rest of the world resulted in many children being born without arms or legs. The FDA refused to approve that drug for pregnant woman in the United States, which created a great swell of pride, admiration, and approval for the work of the FDA. It is only recently that the FDA has been caught up in this all-pervasive notion that they know better than anybody else what is good for us. They want to tell us what cereals are good to eat, whether or not we can use our own stem cells to generate tissue for our own bodies, and soon, whether or not we can continue to live.”
“But Mike, isn’t that a little far-fetched?”
“If I were twenty, I’d say it was far-fetched. At eighty, I’m not sure. I have seen too many changes in my lifetime- some of them good, and some of them absolutely terrible. I remember when I was growing up in the 1930s. We were in the midst of the terrible Depression. We also had a polio epidemic and people would be paralyzed and even die within a day or two. We were told to stay away from crowds during the summer of 1937 and ‘38, the height of that epidemic. But that’s all. The polio vaccine created by Dr. Jonas Salk and later enhanced by Dr. Albert Sabin has virtually wiped out that disease. So hats off to the government and research for that one, and to the pharmaceutical industry for follow-up.
Now we live in a whole new environment. Today the bureaucrats have taken over and they will tell us how long we can spend in a hospital, what operations we can or can’t have, what medications they will pay for and for how long, and now they want to tell us that creating stem cells from our own bodies will require a nine to ten year clinical trial before it can be used. It's ridiculous, isn’t it?”
I was stunned. I had looked at the statistics and like everyone else, was edified at the increase in the life expectancy in our country and of the stories I read every day of the medical miracles performed by our scientists. In the back of my mind, however, I started recalling that other countries had a longer life expectancy than we did. It seemed that Japan and France had a much longer life expectancy than us. In fact, my memory told me that we were somewhat down the list, certainly above the developing countries but well down the chain in the industrialized nations. I decided to check this out.
“Mike”, I asked, “how is our national life expectancy?”
Mike smiled a little ironically. “Last year we were 38th on the list in the world. Many countries have a life expectancy at birth of over 82, some as high as 86. Ours is only 78 or so. Only a few years, but significant.” He went on. The French and the Japanese outlive us.”
I was taken aback. With all our science and technology, with our huge research budgets, we were only 38th. As I mulled this over, the idea of the survival rate of newborn children came to mind. I asked Mike again. Back came the answer.
“We’re better than a lot of countries, but not the best. Once again Japan and France beat us. Our rate is about two and a half times higher than the best in the world.”
Mike had stunned me into silence. I wondered at his fear of enforced euthanasia. It seemed a little far-fetched to me, so I pushed him a little farther.
“Mike,” I began, “why are you so concerned that a move will begin to get rid of the old and the infirm?”
Mike looked at me a little sadly. “It’s happened before. Euthanasia is permitted in Holland now and there are many stories that some of those put to death are involuntary situations. In 2006, it has been reported that 19.4 percent of the deaths in Holland were a result of euthanasia and that more than one in ten of the total number of such deaths in that country were involuntary- undesired.
“Mike, is involuntary euthanasia what I think it is?”
“Yes — when the patients say, “I don’t want to die,’ and the doctors say, ‘well you are going to…' So the fact that euthanasia on demand is permitted in some of our states concerns me. Euthanasia on demand is permitted in other countries around the world like Belgium, Switzerland and Thailand to name a few. My fear is that it could happen here!”
The wind picked up. My dog huddled closer to me. I felt a thin shiver. I didn’t know if it was the cold or Mike’s chilling words of warning.
Dr. Martino is Founder and CEO of CyberFone Technologies, Inc.; and a Senior Fellow of the Foreign Policy Research Institute. He can be reached via e-mail at rmartino@thebulletin.us.
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