The Ghost of Kivorkian

 

Assisted Suicide Frees Doctors’ Inner Kevorkian

By Wesley J. Smith
Pathologist Jack Kevorkian infamously assisted the suicides of people he had not actually treated, or even examined. He would look at medical records, speak to the victim, and bring on the carbon monoxide or suicide machine.

Similarly, a Swiss doctor assisted the suicide of a man he did not physically examine, and took umbrage that authorities brought a case against him. From The Local story:

“A Neuchâtel doctor is considering an appeal after being fined 500 francs ($517) by a local court that found him guilty of helping an 89-year-old patient die without getting a proper diagnosis of the man’s condition.

“The prosecution argued that Freiburghaus had ‘crossed the line’ by failing to follow the legal regulations, which require that a doctor must properly diagnose the presence of an incurable illness and a short life expectancy before assisting suicide.”

Are they kidding? In recent days, we have seen Swiss suicide clinic deaths of healthy elderly women, one upset with modern technology and the other about losing her looks.

Back to the story:

“The doctor said he was reproached for not having gone far enough with his diagnosis. But Freiburghaus said he obtained a complete history of the man’s illness from the patient. From this he determined the man was suffering from rectal cancer. The doctor testified, however, that his patient did not want to be treated or examined and threatened to commit suicide by his own means.

“The doctor’s appalling abdication of professionalism reminds me of Dutch

nursing

home euthanasia death doctor, Bert Kaiser, who wrote in Dancing with Mr. D, that he euthanized a man due to lung cancer even though the diagnoses wasn’t certain.” Freiburghaus is upset that his prerogatives could be limited:

“Freiburghaus remained unrepentant, expressing disbelief over the court’s decision, according to an online report from Le Matin. ‘Soon a doctor will no longer be able to do anything without contravening legal niceties,’ he is quoted as saying by the newspaper.”

Similarly, Kaiser wrote that as he was on his way to lethally inject the patient, he told colleagues, “If anyone so much as whispers ‘cortisone’ or ‘uncertain diagnosis,’ I’ll hit him.” (Page 39.)
Here’s the moral of the story: Assisted suicide/euthanasia eventually brings out some “doctors’” inner Kevorkian. That is just one reason why we should reject the death agenda.

Editor’s note. This appeared on Wesley’s great blog.

Source: NRLC News