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WASHINGTON---"There is a proper public policy role for the federal government against assisted suicide, such as prohibiting federally controlled substances from being used to intentionally end life", lawyer, author and bioethicist Wesley J. Smith told the Senate Committee on the Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights and Property Rights at a hearing Thursday on "The Consequences of Legalized Assisted Suicide and Euthanasia.
Smith, named by the National Journal as one of the nation's top experts in bioethics, notes that "In the 30-plus years since euthanasia was redefined in the Netherlands as a legitimate tool of medical practice instead of a serious crime, ... rather than being rare, statistics show that euthanasia is now almost a matter of medical routine."
"Once we accept the killing of terminally ill patients, as did the Dutch, we will invariably, over time, accept the killing of chronically ill patients, depressed patients, and ultimately perhaps, even children," predicts Smith.
He warned lawmakers that "once killing is redefined as medical treatment, it becomes transformed from 'bad' into 'good.' Thus, the guidelines intended to 'protect against abuse' eventually are viewed not as protections but instead as hurtles separating sick and dying patients from the beneficence of death. In such an intellectual and cultural milieu, it becomes easy to justify ignoring or violating 'guidelines.'"
Others testifying at the hearing were Diane Coleman, president of the disability rights group Not Dead Yet, and Rita Marker, executive director of the International Taskforce on Euthanasia and Assisted Suicide.
Their testimony can be reviewed at www.forethics.com or http://judiciary.senate.gov/hearing.cfm?id=1916
Smith's acclaimed book Forced Exit: Euthanasia, Assisted Suicide, and the New Duty To Die has just been revised and re-released with a new section that discusses the Terri Schiavo case and the pro-euthanasia movie Million Dollar Baby.
Smith is a senior fellow at the Discovery Institute, an attorney for the International Task Force on Euthanasia and Assisted Suicide, and a special consultant for the Center for Bioethics and Culture. In May 2004, because of his work in bioethics, he was named by the National Journal as one of the nation's top expert thinkers in bioengineering. www.discovery.org 5-26-06
© 2006 North
Country Gazette
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