[Magdalen] Euthanasia when the patient does not request it.

[James Oppenheimer-Crawford]

Another matter raised is the use of euthanasia when not requested.  This is
a very different matter altogether. It needs its own thread. Please, let's
not muddy the waters here. I'm starting another thread for this distinct
subject also.

I have read of some times when the physician euthanized a patient who did
not request it.  One case (and let us hope it is a rare matter) involved an
elderly lady who was ill, but did not wish to take euthanasia.  Her
physician was able to convince her to allow herself to be admitted to a
hospital when he promised her very emphatically that he would never do
euthanasia unless she asked for it.

He reportedly returned after a could of days off to find that she had been
euthanized by another physician.  "I needed the bed," was the explanation
given.

I have read this sort of thing often enough to have red flags go off.  The
idea of murdering a patient (that would surely be what that action
constitutes) because you need the bed sounds like an invented folk-tale,
calculated to feed on the fear of being accidentally killed while in
hospital for some benign procedure.


James W. Oppenheimer-Crawford
*“A life is like a garden. Perfect moments can be had, but not preserved,
except in memory. LLAP**”  -- *Leonard Nimoy