Tag: quality of life

Battling “Futile care” and “Quality of Life” determinations in order to save loved ones

By Wesley J. Smith Doctors are incredibly knowledgeable. They understand when people are terminally ill or unlikely to survive a traumatic injury. But they are not infallible. People don’t die by the numbers. Some patients prove unexpectedly resilient. Sometimes true miracles occur, or at least there are no scientific explanations for the disappearance of diseases …

Continue reading "Battling “Futile care” and “Quality of Life” determinations in order to save loved ones" →

Standing Against the Human “Dignity Deniers”

  By Wesley Smith God may not be dead, but considering the imago Dei [made in the image of God] in philosophical discourse and public policy certainly is. Not only that, but the rational reasons for acknowledging the exceptional dignity of humans are wrongly denigrated as merely reflecting our religious past in which rigid moralism …

Continue reading "Standing Against the Human “Dignity Deniers”" →

Feeding Tube Removed Despite Court Order

  By Wesley J. Smith Texas has a medical futility–what I call Futile Care Theory–law permitting doctors to remove wanted life-support that works from a patient based on their views about quality of life. Before that is done, patients/families are supposed to receive due process–such as it is–e.g., a hearing before a bioethics Star Chamber …

Continue reading "Feeding Tube Removed Despite Court Order" →

Why M.D. “Quality of Life Ethic” is Dangerous

  By Wesley J. Smith I can’t tell you how many times I have been called by desperate people fighting hospitals and doctors not to give up on their desperately ill or injured loved ones. Sometimes the cases seem beyond effective remedy. But sometimes, it does seem as doctors or bioethicists want to give up …

Continue reading "Why M.D. “Quality of Life Ethic” is Dangerous" →

Here Comes Rule by “We the Experts”

By Wesley J. Smith The looming statism is perceived by its creators as a benign thing, in which “the experts” craft policy intended to help us live safer, longer, and happier lives. It’s not liberty, but hey–you can’t have everything. I call it Brussels on the Potomac because it would emulate the EU [European Union] …

Continue reading "Here Comes Rule by “We the Experts”" →

Let’s Find a Way to Kill Alzheimer’s Patients!

By Wesley J. Smith Don’t anyone tell me that the mercy killing imperative and cost containment aren’t mixed–driven by a pernicious “quality of life” ethic that denigrates and demeans the moral value of the most weak and vulnerable among us. The Hastings Center Report–the world’s most influential bioethics journal–has a piece pushing euthanasia for Alzheimer’s …

Continue reading "Let’s Find a Way to Kill Alzheimer’s Patients!" →

Elderly Being Abandoned to Abuse?

By Wesley J. Smith Interestingly, I did an interview with a Polish magazine today that dealt precisely with the problem of abandoning the elderly to the abuse of euthanasia and medical neglect of “quality of life” refusals of treatment. The former leader of the Catholic Church in the UK, Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O’Connor, issued a cogent …

Continue reading "Elderly Being Abandoned to Abuse?" →