Linda Smith, Crowd welcomes Nitschke at June 18, 2009 12:55pm, includes:
‘An enthusiastic crowd packed a public meeting to listen to euthanasia advocate Philip Nitschke in Hobart this morning.
‘About 70 Tasmanians — mostly elderly — turned out for the meeting in North Hobart this morning and an afternoon workshop about obtaining and using the illegal euthanasia drug Nembutal is now underway.’
A riposte, Latest push for mercy killings is dangerously ill informed by Michael Cook, includes:
‘A few years ago Nitschke wrote a book with Fiona Stewart, ‘Killing Me Softly’, in which he unveiled the full scope of his vision for euthanasia. . . . End-of-life care is expensive, Nitschke mused in his book. If voluntary euthanasia lopped a mere six months off the lives of ailing elderly people, immense savings would result:
‘One can but wonder when a government will have the guts to stop digging the fiscal black hole that is their ever-deepening legacy for future generations. While the enabling of end-of-life choices will not fix the economic woes of the next forty years, it would not hurt, given half a chance.
‘So the next time you hear a government minister trying to argue why this or that payment or welfare program for single mothers or war veterans must be cut, counter their argument with their fiscal irresponsibility on end-of-life choices.
‘He also advocated voluntary euthanasia for “the troubled teen” and involuntary euthanasia for seriously ill newborns.’
We live in troubled times!
Scary… Have you read the “Children of Men” by P.D James, John?
Don’t be put off by the movie, it is nothing like the book. In this post apocalyptic novel, the elderly are ‘peacefully’ placed on rafts in white robes and floated out to sea… They call it the “quietus”.
More social commentary than fiction!
Thanks, Amy. I haven’t read the book. The whole issue is a nightmare. Many pro-euthanasia people are sincere and caring, yet their devaluation of life in all its forms is the endpoint of the suicidal journey. Our responsibility to care for one another is overlooked as is the spirituality surrounding death and dying.