Comments on: Crossing That Dark River

By: mcd7m

mcd7m — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 16:00:58 +0000

Hello! I am a second year medical student at the University of Virginia. I am doing a research project this summer on blogs maintained by medical students and physicians and I have really enjoyed reading yours! I wanted to let you know about an online journal at UVA called Hospital Drive, which can be found at http://hospitaldrive.med.virginia.edu/. I think you and your readers would really enjoy reading and perhaps even submitting material to the journal. Happy Reading!

By: njartist

njartist — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 23:14:50 +0000

Ethics are but demographics. If butchers were doctors, medicine would have the ethics of the slaughterhouse – and still be ethical.

Ethics are not morality; coincidence is mere happenstance.

By: Roderick Reilly

Roderick Reilly — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 19:10:00 +0000

Has anyone else noticed that the self-same champions of the “right-to-die” and physician-initiated euthanasia of the elderly and of severely disabled toddlers are also among the most vociferous opponents of the death penalty for murderers?

By: Jennifer (Et Tu?)

Jennifer (Et Tu?) — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 17:16:48 +0000

Wow, great post. Thank you.

By: Hootsbuddy

Hootsbuddy — Sun, 22 Jun 2008 10:15:58 +0000

Randy Pausch says it well, pointing out that no one cheats the Grim Reaper by living longer but by living well. His example is one in a million. A good many people consider death to be optional. And for many, thanks to modern medicine, it really is… at least in the short-term. It’s no accident that an unbalnced ration of health care money, even for the impoverished, is lumped at the end of life.

Those with limited resources need not worry, however. Theirs is a Hobson’s choice. Living longer — whether measured in months, weeks or hours — is not an option. Private enterprise already has a rationing plan in place, eliminating populations most likely to take too large a bite from the bottom line.

The Oregon example is instructive. Oregon’s health care is not only limited by available funds, it is literally rationed by lottery. In this case, Genentech saw a great PR opportunity and jumped on it. They know about risk-reward analysis better than most. Yay for business enterprise!

Your main point that moral relativism is leading us to embrace “physician-assisted suicide” is well-made. But from my years working with those sniffily called the “working poor” I see physician-assisted suicide as the medical equivalent of a root canal and crown. Those with the means have that luxury but for many the tooth would have been pulled long before.