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The speed at which we are losing respect for Hippocratic principles
that have served our patients and profession well for over 2,000 years is
truly alarming.
At both ends of life pragmatic humanism is taking over. The
profession, having agreed to the abortion in the United Kingdom of more
than 6 million mainly normal pregnancies at the beginning of life, is
allowing euthanasia to creep in at the end. New medical "treatment" by
"terminal sedation" - defined as keeping the patient comatose until death
by starvation and dehydration - has, according to the report, "more or
less become established medical practice" in Holland. We appear to have
learnt nothing from the medical horrors that were part of the Holocaust.
It should be no surprise that our once respected profession is now
increasingly viewed with suspicion and mistrust. If the intention, as
declared, is to cause the death of a patient, a lethal injection must be
next, being surely quicker, kinder and cheaper.
I am personally in favour of legalising euthanasia all over the
world. I think its better to go for euthanasia than putting patient in
deep sedation. In one hand deep sedation only prolongs the duration of
psychological stress on the nears and dears of the patient because they
know that the patient is no longer going to improve and they just have to
wait for him to die. On other hand it also increases the expenses and
wastage of time on non productive hospital services. One thing i am
graetly concerned is that every patient should be consulted before putting
him in to deep sedation instead of going for euthanasia.
Lethal Injections next?
The speed at which we are losing respect for Hippocratic principles
that have served our patients and profession well for over 2,000 years is
truly alarming.
At both ends of life pragmatic humanism is taking over. The
profession, having agreed to the abortion in the United Kingdom of more
than 6 million mainly normal pregnancies at the beginning of life, is
allowing euthanasia to creep in at the end. New medical "treatment" by
"terminal sedation" - defined as keeping the patient comatose until death
by starvation and dehydration - has, according to the report, "more or
less become established medical practice" in Holland. We appear to have
learnt nothing from the medical horrors that were part of the Holocaust.
It should be no surprise that our once respected profession is now
increasingly viewed with suspicion and mistrust. If the intention, as
declared, is to cause the death of a patient, a lethal injection must be
next, being surely quicker, kinder and cheaper.
Competing interests:
None declared
Competing interests: No competing interests