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Sunday, March 12, 2006

China wants to legalize euthanasia

An adviser to China's parliament has proposed allowing doctors to "experiment" with euthanasia as a step towards legalising mercy killing nationwide, the official Xinhua news agency has reported.

A survey carried out in several areas of the country showed more than 80% of people supported euthanasia for those with incurable, painful illness, Zhao Gongmin, a researcher with the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said....

These polls are frequently done to manipulate the law. You see, usually you have two choices: Suffering or death.
In medicine, there is a third choice: Pain medicine and decent nursing care.


Of course, China is athiestic and has a long tradition of suicide to get out of intolorable situations (for example, women in unhappy marriages).

"I think it is only a matter of time for euthanasia to become legal," Zhao said, speaking on the sidelines of the ongoing session of the National People's Congress in Beijing.

"Therefore, we should allow some experiments on the local level for the purpose of accumulating experience."...

Nonsense. It is merely a way of normalizing killing. ANY doc knows how to kill. Give morphine, keep increasing. Usually in terminal care, we stop when the pain is gone. But you can keep going until the person is pain free and unconscious, then give simple potassium chloride IV. Big deal.

Zhao's point comes as the government has pledged to put massive new investment in its decaying rural health care system, which is leaving many millions with no access to money unable to afford medical treatment.

It is not uncommon for rural people with serious illnesses to kill themselves, often to avoid burdening their families with expensive medical bills.

Bull, of course.
China has a demographic problem. Traditionally, wives/daughters take care of the elderly.There is a girl shortage thanks to abortion. And, of course, thanks to the "one child" policy, China's population is rapidly aging...similar to Europe's demographic time bomb with one exception: In Europe, the elderly are wealthy. In China, many, especially in rural areas, are not.

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Writer Walker Percy wrote a novel The Thantos syndrome, where euthanasia was legal, and the specialists were going overseas to work in famine camps...

God help us.

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