In this episode of Family Matters, how is it that euthanasia advocates always talk about autonomy and yet, at the same time, want to force doctors, nurses, and hospices to be part of something they strongly reject?
Simon welcomes back Wesley J. Smith from the Discovery Institute to examine what they call an accelerating “culture of death” and the erosion of medical conscience rights. Wesley talks about a recent New York assisted-suicide law that will require the likes of Catholic nuns to be part of the process – something they are deeply opposed to.
The discussion the coercive nature of arguments being put forward by pro-euthanasia advocates, with Wesley point to Canada’s MAID (Medical Assistance in Dying) system, where courts have told doctors their rights and beliefs are a distant second to what the patients wants via this government-funded ‘healthcare’. As both Simon and Wesley note, this is effectively pressuring good moral doctors and nurses to leave medicine, at a time our health systems need more – not fewer – medical professionals.
Simon raises New Zealand’s expanding euthanasia regime and efforts to remove conscientious objection protections for doctors and hospices, along with a push by the Ministry of Health to increase uptake Māori and Pasifika communities. Both argue euthanasia quickly shifts from “strict safeguards” to demands for broader eligibility, new approaches such as ‘Voluntarily Stopping Eating and Drinking’ (VSED), and a vending-machine model of medicine where doctors are no longer meant to act ethically but simply give the patient what they demand.
A key message from Wesley is that the many voices of doctors wishing to say “no” to euthanasia and the erosion of their conscience rights is precisely what pro-death advocates want so silence. The way forward is for clinicians to publicly resist, have courage, speak up, and defend their proud Hippocratic tradition. #familymatters #familyfirstnz
