The Europeans have always been more cosmopolitan than the hicks in the United States clinging to their guns and religion. Across the pond, they are with it. Progressive. Socialist. Deadly. When it comes to abortion and eugenics and euthanasia, the Europeans are far ahead. Or behind. It depends on your point of view.
But some of our betters are trying to catch up. Or fall back. Point of view, etc.
The Arkansas General Assembly is now considering a bill, HB1536, that would allow doctors to prescribe terminally ill patients lethal doses of drugs and create an exemption to this state's ban on physician-assisted suicide. There would be some paperwork to fill out, but you already know how the health-care bureaucracy works.
According to the paper, a patient would have to ask a doctor twice, at least two weeks apart, before the doctor could call in the prescription. One must have standards, you realize.
Speaking of standards, there were a group of them written a few years back. A few sentences went like this:
"I will use treatment to help the sick according to my ability and judgment, but never with a view to injury and wrong-doing. Neither will I administer a poison to anybody when asked to do so, nor will I suggest such a course."
That's part of the Hippocratic oath. But what did Hippocrates, the father of Western medicine, know about these things? After all, the next line in the oath is a pledge against abortion. How 2,500 years ago.
Is the Culture of Death in this country really a slippery slope? Some of us remember when abortion was supposed to be legal but rare. Even some folks who opposed the thought of abortion in 1973 thought it would only be used in the most uncommon of circumstances, and argued as much, only to be horrified as it turned into just another method of birth control.
Some of us also remember when those arguing for abortion assured the rest of us that they'd never take the next step toward euthanasia or assisted suicide. Or maybe they would, if it were physician-assisted suicide. Or maybe nurse-assisted suicide. In rare circumstances maybe spouse-assisted suicide or offspring-assisted suicide. Funny how that red line keeps moving.
But times change, so red lines must change, too. Along with our sense of morality and the thought of sin, another holdover from the old days.
So our lawmakers in Little Rock will debate HB1536, which is styled the Compassionate Care End-Of-Life Option Act. The bill says it would "exempt prescribing or dispensing of a medication for self-administration by a patient under the Compassionate Care End-Of-Life Act from the definition of 'physician-assisted suicide.'"
In that case, why not just exempt the whole definition of suicide? Or death? This is wordplay at its worst. Which is what happens when those defending the indefensible get going. That's how abortion became choice and abortion rooms became clinics.
Some of us think of it as the new barbarity. The only new thing about it is that it's all done under the pretext of kindness.
By their opponents ye shall know them. The American Medical Association opposes physician-assisted suicide. This state's Family Council promises to oppose HB1536, too. And those of us who prefer to Choose Life will have something to say about it as well.
Yes, the Europeans do this so much better. The Germans were pioneers in the field (circa 1939-1945) but nowadays the Netherlands has taken the lead. It wasn't all that long ago--2002--when the Dutch were the first to make assisted suicide and euthanasia legal nation-wide. Now euthanasia accounts for nearly five percent of the total of all deaths in the Netherlands.
Is that a comfortable number for Arkansas? Or would we feel better if "only" two percent were helped to death? Or maybe, after a few years of a 95/5 split, we could get closer to 50/50 and start easing the old folks out more often. Why should they suffer with the indignities of age? Surely they'd understand, and maybe sometimes do.
At first, assisted suicide comes in peace. It would only apply to terminally ill patients. It would be exceedingly rare. Drugs would only be administered by a doctor. We remember those lines from the early days of the abortion debate.
Over in the Netherlands, they've become so accustomed to euthanasia that folks there don't even have to have a fatal condition to be given lethal pills. They just tell the doctor they're suffering; here's a prescription.
Before Arkansas follows the Europeans over this cliff, the matter cries out for debate.
Cries out? You could say it weeps.
Editorial on 02/23/2019