Framing Euthanasia

You're watching a horror movie about a man who has been taken captive in the hospital of a mad doctor and strapped to a hospital bed. The doctor walks in, wielding a large hypodermic needle and eyes the "patient" diabolically. "We'll be taking care of that terrible illness for you, Mr. Parker. In just a few moments, your pain will end forever." The camera focuses on Mr. Parker, who frantically tries to signal that he does not want to die that he is not even sick but he is unable to speak because he has been heavily sedated. His face drenched with perspiration, his eyes darting about wildly, he makes some guttural sounds in his throat just as the doctor makes the injection. The camera goes out of focus and the screen is filled with a bright light. Mr. Parker is dead.

Dramatic? Yes. Exaggerated? Yes. Unrealistic? No�not really. Euthanasia is a concept that purports to painlessly end the lives of people who have incurable or painful diseases or handicaps. It has been framed in such a way that many people see it as mercy, a favor to someone who is suffering so much that life is not worth living. An astonishing number of people believe that euthanasia is the right thing to do in cases of terminal illness or unbearable physical or emotional pain. They persist in believing that this is merciful in spite of the fact that the suffering caused by the euthanasia can be worse than the patient's everyday life with the illness or handicap. This was sharply illus

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e available, amounting to one in five of all reported euthanasia cases. In 22% of Dutch euthanasia cases there had been no "explicit request" by the person concerned, and 50% of those subjected to this killing without consent were competent at the time of their death. The single study yet published from Belgium, where euthanasia was legalised in May 2002 showed that 30% of euthanasia cases there were non-voluntary (Davis). Equally sobering are findings that the mentally disabled are particularly vulnerable to euthanasia decisions: A study found that 44% of the deaths of such people living in institutions involved an "end of life decision" though only two of the 97 people concerned had "expressed a wish to die" - a "choice" which was inferred if the person pulled out a feeding tube (Davis). One of the critical flaws in euthanasia is that the determination that a particular patient should be euthanized will always have elements of subjectivity inherent in it. Holland's government report in 1991 stated "� it was gratifying to note that only one patient had non-voluntary euthanasia because there was the need for a bed." To call it "gratifying" that such a killing happened "only" once shows how routine killing becomes once it is

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