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10: Brief Answers to Five Objections
OBJECTION 1 - We cannot aways be sure that the patient wants to
die.
Answer: There are no absolute certainties in medical practice
but this does not eliminate the need, at times, for doctors to make life
and death decisions. Faced with a request for euthanasia, the doctor would
follow prescribed guidelines which would include being satisfied that the
strength and persistence of the request left no reasonable doubt as to
the patient's firm and rational intention.
OBJECTION 2 - We cannot always be sure that there is no possibility
of cure or return to an acceptable quality of life.
Answer: Cures take years to discover, test and become generally
available. The doctor would discuss the prognosis so that the patient could
make an informed decision as to whether a cure or remission was worth waiting
for.
OBJECTION 3 - Palliative care is now so effective that no-one
need ever ask for euthanasia.
Answer: There are acknowledged limits to palliative care. There
are still cases in which pain cannot be satisfactorily controlled, but
of greater concern is the loss of faculties and descent into total dependence
on others over a lengthy period as a miserable prelude to death. The June 2002 Morgan Poll revealed that only 23% of those polled considered that palliative care was sufficient.
OBJECTION 4 - Efforts to find cures and to improve palliative
care will be discouraged.
Answer: The will to live is so strong that no-one wishes to die
while their life can still have reasonable quality. There will always be
pressure to find cures and improve treatment. Euthanasia would only be
an option for those whom current medical skills could not help. The incentive
to perfect those skills would remain.
OBJECTION 5 - It is always wrong to shorten life deliberately.
Answer: Those who have this conviction would be free to abstain,
either as doctor or patient, but should not deny the option to those who
do not share their belief. Most people hold that life should not be taken
unlawfully: they accept that there are circumstances in which the taking
of life at the request of the patient may be justified and that the law should provide for these.
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