The argument for active euthanasia, or state killing went much like the argument for abortion, in its early 1960s/1970s stage. For abortion, the idea was for truly desperate women, facing extreme hardship or threats to life, to be saved by the abortion; apparently there were no other options. For active euthanasia the argument was that people suffering tremendous pain in the final stages of some dreaded disease such as terminal cancer, could "die with dignity." From these humble beginnings, by the Fabian process of gradualism, abortion went to abortion right up to birth, as if it would take that long to deal with the hardship burden, and now for active euthanasia, where it is legal, as described below, it is an option for mental health issues such as depression. It is argued that such people will be likely to commit suicide anyway, so it is better that the state does the job for them.
It is not hard to see where this will go, where in the near future, political dissents will be faced with the options of murder by the state, or having their entire families destroyed. It is the next step on from the financial destruction by debanking going on now.
https://www.readcontra.com/p/dying-with-indignity
"A woman with deep blue eyes and wavy brown hair sits in front of a camera.
"Hello, my name is Zoraya and I'm 28 years old," she says with a slight smile. "I live in the Netherlands and recently my euthanasia request for my mental suffering got approved."
The smile is gone, replaced with pursed lips.
There's nothing physically wrong with Zoraya ter Beek. But in May, she will receive a drug to stop her heart, having elected to end her life by euthanasia rather than live with depression, autism, and borderline personality disorder. She'll leave behind two cats and a boyfriend, along with their home in the Netherlands, which became the first country to legalize medical suicide in 2001. The Netherlands saw 8,720 euthanasia deaths in 2022, representing about 5 percent of all the country's deaths.
Ter Beek recalled to The Free Press that her psychiatrist told her that "there's nothing more we can do for you. It's never gonna get any better." So that was that. Ter Beek made plans to be cremated, though she confessed a twinge of fear at the prospect of oblivion.
Suicide isn't new. But the frivolity accompanying it in our time and the crisis of meaning fueling it seems like a deviation. There's also a remarkable lack of concern for the corruption and predatory practices that could arise.
What stops the companies that make the sedatives and drugs and devices used in "medically-assisted dying" from creating incentives for physicians to readily recommend euthanasia? Nobody's asking that question, but they should.
A recent study published in The Journal of the American Medical Association found that the pharmaceutical and medical device industry paid physicians over $12 billion in the last decade. "Despite evidence that financial conflicts of interest may influence physician prescribing and may damage patients' trust in medical professionals, such relationships remain pervasive," the authors noted."