The new duty to die?

[cmotherofpirl]

Better for Old People to Kill Themselves Than Be A Nuisance, Lawmaker Says
By Patrick Goodenough
CNSNews.com International Editor
December 14, 2004

(CNSNews.com) - A prominent British lawmaker has triggered an outcry by implying that elderly and very ill people should not only have the right, but the obligation to kill themselves rather than become a nuisance. The furor erupted as British lawmakers prepared to vote on a bill that critics worry could be used to sanction the killing of patients in a vegetative state.

"I couldn't bear hanging on and being such a burden on people," said Baroness Mary Warnock, an 80-year-old medical ethicist, philosopher and member of the upper House of Lords, in a weekend newspaper interview.

"In other contexts, sacrificing oneself for one's family would be considered good," she told the Sunday Times. "I don't see what is so horrible about the motive of not wanting to be an increasing nuisance."

"If I went into a nursing home, it would be a terrible waste of money that my family could use far better," Warnock added.

Later in the interview she said: "I am not ashamed to say some lives are more worth living than others," before conceding that "if someone else decides your life is not worth living, that is very dangerous."

Warnock was speaking ahead of a House of Commons vote Tuesday on legislation that would give legal status to "living wills" and allow third parties to tell doctors to withdraw treatment -- or even food and water -- from terminally-ill patients.

"Living wills" are documents that set out how ill people want to be treated if they are no longer able to communicate their wishes directly to medical staff.

The Mental Capacity Bill is highly contentious, with some members of the ruling Labor Party opposing it and calling for the right to vote according to conscience.

'Drain on resources'

Warnock's comments stunned many, not only because of what she said, but also because of her own background. Considered one of Britain's most eminent philosophers, she once sat on a House of Lords committee that rejected a move to legalize euthanasia.

In 1995, her husband died of a debilitating lung disease called fibrosing alveolitis.

Her Sunday Times interview drew strong reactions: Age Concern, a charity working with the elderly, called her remarks "outrageous."

"The current system of care [for the elderly] is chronically under-funded and we should be looking at ways of improving the system rather than blaming older people," a spokesman said.

Euthanasia advocates welcomed Warnock's intervention, noting her change in stance over the past 10 years and saying that it reflected a wider shift in public opinion.

Warnock's remarks went beyond "end of life" decisions. She also suggested that if doctors felt premature babies could not be treated, the children's parents should pay for them to remain on life-support systems.

"Maybe it has to come down to saying: 'Okay, they can stay alive but the family will have to pay for it,' " she said. "Otherwise it will be an awful drain on public resources."

Warnock is the second member of the House of Lords to have made explosive comments about ethical issues in the past 10 days.

On December 5, Baroness Shreela Flather suggested in a newspaper interview that parents from deprived areas should be dissuaded from having large families.

"People should be thinking more about how much they can offer five children compared to how much they can offer two or three," she said.

"If you want the best for your child, you have to think about how many children you can look after. If you had two or three children, maybe you could have higher aspirations for them."

The India-born Flather is a former president of the Family Planning Association and currently sits on the board of Marie Stopes International (MSI), a UK-based organization that carries out some 35,000 abortions a year, and works in 30 mostly developing countries worldwide.

An MSI spokeswoman was quoted afterwards as saying Flather was speaking independently of the organization, although MSI is reportedly considering publishing leaflets cautioning of the financial costs of bringing up children.

'Eugenics'

A spokeswoman for the British pro-life charity Life told CNSNews.com that Flather's comments were "particularly worrying given the fact that the world is facing a population implosion whereby the fertility level for the world as a whole is predicted to drop below replacement level before 2050."

"Most western countries are facing ageing populations where the workforce will not be able to support the elderly," she said. "Many parts of the world are facing severe demographic imbalance in their populations."

"It is therefore highly irresponsible of the Baroness to suggest any group have less children, and highly insulting to poorer communities to advise that they alone should have less children."

The spokeswoman also said Flather's comments were unsurprising, coming from a director of "an organization that has its roots in eugenics and racism."

MSI was founded by Scottish-born Marie Stopes, who opened Britain's first "family planning clinic" in London in 1921. Forty-one years after her death in 1958, she was voted "Woman of the Millennium" by the readers of Britain's liberal Guardian newspaper.

According to Life counselor Victoria Gillick, however, Stopes' published views were racist and offensive. She referred to the "puny and utterly unsatisfactory" children of the poor, and made such observations as "our race is weakened by an appallingly high percentage of unfit weaklings and diseased individuals."

Gillick wrote several years ago that Stopes was keenly interested in eugenics, also known as "selective breeding."

"In Stopes's view, only those children with a chance of reaching 'strong, beautiful and intelligent maturity' should be conceived."

Flather, incidentally, sat on the same House of Lords committee as Warnock did in 1993 and at the time also opposed euthanasia. Flather said earlier this year that she had changed her mind and now supported the practice.

Flather, Warnock and a third member of the Lords were cited as saying they had changed their opinion because of developments in medical care and successful "right to die" laws in the Netherlands, Belgium and Oregon.

[Kilroy the Ninja]

See?! True evil really does exist outside of the United States!

How refreshing to know it's not just [i]our[/i] misguided liberals!

[homeschoolmom]

:angry:

[Benedict]

Yes but it is the British.

[Don John of Austria]

Why is it I doubt he won't be volenteering anytime soon. Darn!

[Paladin D]

Maybe the [b]80 year old man[/b] (Baroness Mary Warnock) should follow his own advice. Though I doubt he would kill himself, beaver dam hypocrit.

[Socrates]

[quote name='Kilroy the Ninja' date='Dec 14 2004, 08:01 AM'] See?! True evil really does exist outside of the United States!

[/quote]
Who ever claimed it didn't???

[rachael]

[quote name='cmotherofpirl' date='Dec 14 2004, 07:55 AM']
"If I went into a nursing home, it would be a terrible waste of money that my family could use far better," Warnock added.

[/quote]
what? they would rather pay for material objects instead of helping someone live? :angry:

[homeschoolmom]

[quote name='rachael' date='Dec 14 2004, 02:30 PM'] what? they would rather pay for material objects instead of helping someone live? :angry: [/quote]
yes, apparently so...

[Brother Adam]

"By Patrick Goodenough"

Apparently not!

[RandomProddy]

[quote name='Benedict' date='Dec 14 2004, 03:53 PM'] Yes but it is the British. [/quote]


Arg

Edited December 15, 2004 by RandomProddy

[Benedict]

I'm Welsh.

[RandomProddy]

And as you have probably guessed, I'm a northener...

[burnsspivey]

[quote name='Paladin D' date='Dec 14 2004, 01:49 PM'] Maybe the [b]80 year old man[/b] (Baroness Mary Warnock) should follow his own advice. Though I doubt he would kill himself, beaver dam hypocrit. [/quote]
80 year old man...Baroness...Mary....

[burnsspivey]

'If you can't afford to have a large family, you shouldn't have a large family.'

It's amazing how sensible that sounds -- why do people have such a problem with it? Also, what's wrong with suggesting that every child be both wanted and planned?