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Two Tales from the Euthanasia Dystopia

Originally published at National Review

Euthanasia is showing its fangs in places such as Canada and Spain.

First, in Spain, a criminal who shot four people and was, in turn, shot in the spine by police and paralyzed, was granted death by euthanasia. From the EuroNews story:

Since December, he has been bedridden at the Terrassa prison hospital near Barcelona and had demanded the right to die. A Tarragona court judge ruled in his favour earlier this month, ruling that he had a “fundamental right” to “dignity”.

Spain has no death penalty, so even if the victims had died, he would have faced no lethal consequence as the death penalty is considered cruel and unusual punishment. But death was deemed “dignified” because the criminal was paralyzed. So I guess we could call this cruel and unusual death with dignity that allowed a criminal to avoid the consequences of his attempted lethal action and a form of death penalty to be applied.

Meanwhile, our cousins in Canada are embroiled in an entirely predictable euthanasia scandal. Rather than properly treat a veteran with PTSD, a social worker suggested euthanasia. From the Daily Mail story:

A spokesperson confirmed that all frontline staff at the VAC are to be given ‘formal training, direction and advice’ on how to approach the issues surrounding MAiD.

The veteran, who has not been identified, claims the service agent they spoke to brought up the option repeatedly even after he asked them to stop. He also said that the service agent told him in the call about having helped another veteran access MAiD through VAC including supporting that person’s children.

The service agent reportedly said ‘ better than blowing his brains out all over the wall or driving his car into something’, when discussing the separate case.

But don’t worry. An investigation has been promised.

The veteran’s case isn’t the first time that Canada offered death instead of proper caring, and it won’t be the last.

Here’s the lesson if we want to learn it: Euthanasia legalization validates killing as a proper response to real and perceived suffering, leading to its normalization for an ever-broadening swath of human conditions. And a plus for the utilitarian mindset: Money saved on proper care for “expensive” patients and more organs for transplantation!

But Wesley, euthanasia is about compassion, and “strict guidelines” protect against abuse! Bah.

Wesley J. Smith

Chair and Senior Fellow, Center on Human Exceptionalism
Wesley J. Smith is Chair and Senior Fellow at the Discovery Institute’s Center on Human Exceptionalism. Wesley is a contributor to National Review and is the author of 14 books, in recent years focusing on human dignity, liberty, and equality. Wesley has been recognized as one of America’s premier public intellectuals on bioethics by National Journal and has been honored by the Human Life Foundation as a “Great Defender of Life” for his work against suicide and euthanasia. Wesley’s most recent book is Culture of Death: The Age of “Do Harm” Medicine, a warning about the dangers to patients of the modern bioethics movement.