Sigh. The UK is in the midst of a renewed effort to legalize assisted suicide. Toward this end, one of the pro assisted suicide groups has published a poll showing that 2/3 of UK doctors have provided strong pain control knowing it could hasten death.
Well good for them. That is like saying that 3/4 of doctors had performed surgery on patients knowing that the surgery could hasten their deaths. This is because any medical procedure may cause death as an unintended side effect.
The euthanasia ideologues claim that their poll shows that there is no difference between euthanasia and pain control treatment. Bunk. Euthanasia kills. Pain control palliates. Euthanasia results in death almost every time, and it is considered shocking if the poisoned patient does not die. Pain control usually does not result in death, and indeed, may even lengthen life because a dying patient does not have to expend energy experiencing severe pain.
But count on the media to swallow this bilge whole. Unfortunately, it seems that critical thinking is not a strong suit of most contemporary journalists.
Dear Reader,
Can I be direct with you?
War abroad. Socialists on the rise. AI upending human life. Endless uproar online. The modern attention economy doesn’t want readers — it wants users enslaved to the tyranny of the present.
First Things is the antidote: literary excellence, timeless truths, and a fixed point of reference in a culture that has lost its bearings.
But we can’t do it without readers like you.
Our goal: Raise $150,000 by November 1 to sustain First Things in the year ahead.
Your gift anchors readers in the permanent things.
Make your Fall Campaign gift now using the button below.
If you have any questions or would like more information, please contact Giovanni Del Piero, Director of the Editor’s Circle, at gdelpiero@firstthings.com or 212-627-1985.
YOU MIGHT ALSO LIKE
The Church in the Age of Therapy
In 1966, Philip Rieff wrote in The Triumph of the Therapeutic that “Religious man was born to…
Canada’s Deadliest Blind Spot
On September 20, the Daily Mail ran a story with the provocative headline, “Our 83-year-old Christian grandmother…
The Faithful Joy of Dolly Parton and Fulton Sheen
Dolly Parton and Fulton Sheen seem to have had little in common. She favored rhinestones; he wore…
