From: "Gary Britt" 


"Dyana"  wrote in message
news:43d7ccc7{at}w3.nls.net...
> Phil Payne wrote:
>
> My husband was also lucid until the last moment of his life. He was
> laughing, telling me he was
> excited about watching Bush being grilled at the UN.  and then he
> just fell asleep...
>

Did your husband know he was about to be put to sleep?  The paragraph above
makes it sound like he didn't?

There are significant problems with doctors being in the death business.
Not the least of which is when its legal to kill patients upon their
request that doctors and others begin killing people AGAINST their wishes. 
The Netherlands, where killing patient's by doctors is legal, has done a
study of their system and found over 1,000 patients KILLED WITHOUT THEIR
CONSENT.

There are other problems with doctors being in the death business.  HMO's
and other managed care health insurance programs pressure doctors and
hospitals through rules and bonus systems to kill/allow patients to die
even when that may not be the patient's or family's wishes.  The doctors
and nurses and hospital care liaisons begin pressuring family members when
they are at highly emotional states to sign non-resuscitation orders and
other releases that allow the patients to die/be killed much more quickly. 
This process which is bad enough at the time of last illness would become
much worse where doctors are allowed to legally kill patients.

I understand the awful circumstances which can make some patients and some
family members of dying patients wish for a more quick end to what appears
to be the inevitable.  Should that ever become legal, doctors performing
patient care should NOT be those illegally empowered to kill patients, any
all possible, direct and indirect, profit motives from the patient's death
(whether by cost reductions in treatment and care expenses or through the
selling of patient organs and/or services related thereto (e.g. profit from
their transplant, etc.) must be completely eliminated beyond any question.
Further, the killing of these patients should NOT be legal in the care
facilities.  It should take place only in a death facility that the patient
is transferred to.  Without these kinds of safeguards those wonderful
compassionate doctors you write about will start killing patients against
their will.  Then they and their hospitals breakup the champagne and
celebrate the positive effects on their bonuses from the insurance/managed
care industry.

Gary

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