After examining the West’s experience with physician assisted suicide, a Canadian panel has determined Canada needs to get on board with access to professional euthanasia. At least they have learned from experience. They don’t pretend to be protecting human dignity. Rather, they are promoting human autonomy. This in fact, is what the research shows is the primary reason Americans in Washington state and Oregon choose euthanasia. Dignity is so out of date. And they suggest dignity is vague. But what really is autonomy? What do they mean by a professional death? Should doctors have to cede to anyone’s view of well-being, even when it means elimination of the person? This sort of logic suggests we should be able to write narcotic prescriptions for all who ask, as they are only wishing to relieve their own suffering, as they describe it. Why does addiction matter? Why control substances at all? Why not take this to its logical end and just tell doctors that they must cooperate with whatever people choose as their personal good? This lack of reason as evidenced in Canada and the US, when it comes to euthanasia, suggests rationality is secondary to autonomy. Call it a postmodern life if you will, but I call it deadly.
See: “Assisted Suicide: Expert Panel Urges Legalization Of Euthanasia And Assisted Suicide In Canada,” The Huffington Post. >>