Sunday, March 15, 2020

How Assisted Suicide Quickly Evolves Into An Unfettered Right To Die

In nearly every country and state that has legalized some form of assisted suicide, the pattern is the same: A narrow suicide exception broadens until everyone has the right to commission their own killing.
It’s ironic that one of the most bizarre jokes in the classic animated series “Futurama” happens to be its most prophetic: suicide booths. In the first episode, the protagonist, who wakes up from a 1,000-year cryogenic sleep, stands in a line of calm people to use what he thinks is a phone. Instead of entering the booth to make a call, they are being vaporized or slashed.
The idea of suicide-on-demand has now become a reality. Netherlands, Switzerland, and Belgium have liberalized their assisted suicide laws so anyone of any age can seek medicated suicide. Canada hopes to expand legal suicide for those who don’t suffer from a terminal illness, and a German high court has determined assisted suicide is every person’s right.
In nearly every country and state that has legalized some form of assisted suicide, the pattern is the same: First, it is presented as an exception made for people suffering severely and on the brink of certain death; then, this exception broadens to include people who won’t necessarily die and experience varying degrees of suffering; and finally, suicide is enshrined as a right of anyone seeking it.
In this final phase, where suicide is a human right, it becomes unclear why a doctor is even necessary. If a person wants to kill himself, he doesn’t necessarily need a doctor’s help. What does the doctor “assist” with, then? Usually, they assist with coercing a patient into committing suicide as a remedy for his problems — in direct conflict with their duties as healers. At least the people in “Futurama” could decide for themselves without this hurdle.
Is Assisted Suicide a Slippery Slope?
Read the rest from Auguste Meyrat HERE at The Federalist.

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