 |
|
No Euphemisms, Please
Albert Camus, in his allegorical novel The Plague, a novel about the collapse of ethics during the Nazi era, wrote,
Everyone knows that pestilence have a way of recurring in the world; yet . . . no one dared to call them by their name on that occasion. The usual taboo, of course; the public mustn't be alarmed, that wouldn't do at all. And then, as one of my colleagues said, "It's unthinkable. Everyone knows it's ceased to appear in western Europe." Yes, everyone knew that—except the dead men.1
The Dutch explain honestly that many of their sick and handicapped persons' lives end prematurely because the physician, judging that their lives are unworthy of life, performed an action or deliberately withheld a life-saving treatment with the motive of inducing death. I agree with the authors of the "In Reply,"2 which appeared in the October 1996 issue of the ARCHIVES, that euthanasia is hard to define; however, what is not hard to define is that "deathmaking" is occurring and that apparently the Dutch have enthusiastically embraced the idea that dispensing death, by direct and indirect means, is a normal medical treatment. Perhaps, they explain, such deaths are not really euthanasia, but the people are just as dead.
The fact that even the most egregious cases of unwanted euthanasia have not been prosecuted3 suggests a collapse of not only the medical but the legal system in that country.
N. K. O'Conner, MD
Red Lake, Minn
1. Camus A, trans, Gilbert S, trans. The Plague. New York, NY: Vintage Books; 1972:34.
2. Onwuteaka-Philipsen BD, Muller MT, van der Wal G. In reply. Arch Fam Med. 1996;5:495-496.
FREE FULL TEXT
3. Gianelli DM. Dutch data indicate physician assisted death on the rise. American Medical News. January 13, 1997:6-7.
Arch Fam Med. 1998;7:14.
|
