Valuing life

I've not paid great attention to the Gosnell case in the news, but what I've heard has been pretty disgusting: this 'doctor,' in the name of doing abortions, did things that even most abortionists would regard as beyond the pale.

Apparently a couple women died. Apparently the conditions in the place were "squalid." And apparently he did even more than what is sometimes euphemized as "partial-birth abortion."

I'm not going to debate abortion here. I personally am strongly opposed to it, and yet (and I don't necessarily think this is a contradiction), I am not as bent on having it made illegal again as some folks are.

I teach a general bio class that has a section on reproduction as part of it. The textbook goes into little detail about fetal development (which I wonder if it's maybe an intentional omission). I got some information from the March of Dimes and other sources on fetal development. I have one chart showing from week 1 to week 39, how the development proceeds.

It always strikes me how "early" the fetus "looks" human. And I admit it - and perhaps this is where I'm not so unbiased as I claim to be in teaching - I kind of hope some of the students in the class look at that, and take it into consideration, and if one of the young women winds up in a situation with a pregnancy where she knows she cannot or should not be raising the child, she'll consider adoption instead.

But anyway. This is not really about that so much as it is about someone who apparently either gave in to evil, or found some way to justify the evil he was doing. Did he think it was for the women's own good? Did he think he was fixing something somehow?

I don't like comparing people lightly to the Nazis and what they did. I loathe the way some are so quick to spout Hitler-comparisons with any politician they do not like.

But this....I can't help thinking of some of the Nazi experimentation and what went on in the death camps when I hear about this kind of thing.

And this happened in our own country. And apparently it went undiscovered for a long time. Did no one care? Did the mills of bureaucracy grind so slow that they couldn't catch this guy before now? Was it covered up? Could it be, as some have suggested, that it was largely poor, minority women being harmed, and that was why it was not investigated sooner?

This is why I get very, very nervous when people talk about doing things - medically - for others because "we know what's best for you."

This is partly why I'm so concerned about the possibility of legalizing physician-assisted suicide. If abortion is legal, and someone would commit the atrocities of a Gosnell, might not something similar happen if physician-assisted suicide becomes legal? Botched suicides, where the person is left brain-damaged, not dead but with no quality of life? Or, cases where the person was put to death because the doctor involved decided it was best for them, even if the person maybe wasn't entirely on board?

Yes, I'm sure most of the cases, everything would be above board. But I'm unwilling to risk someone being put down against their will because of incompetence or over-reaching on the part of some "suicide doctor."

Don't get me wrong: I don't have a problem with "advance directives," written by the patient and properly signed and witnessed. In fact, I am grateful to know my parents have such orders in place - orders they took time to think about, during a time when they were in good health and sound mind, orders they took time to talk about with each other and their doctor and a lawyer. Orders that they, as people of faith, doubtless prayed about.

I'm grateful to know that some day I may not be called to make a very difficult choice based on "would they have wanted the heroic effort at resuscitation?"

I think it's a very responsible thing to do.

What I have a problem with is the thought that there may be cases of doctors doing what they think is "best" for the patient, and that "best" being ending the life of someone they deem to have "insufficient quality of life."

(Yes, I know: I suppose it happens now, and probably more than I'd like to think about, but I suspect it would be much harder to catch and prosecute in a world where physician-assisted suicide was legal).

I suspect also in some cases depressed patients, especially, would be prone to the pressures that could come in an "end of life" discussion. Or, I can imagine someone who is old, who has outlived their spouse and friends, whose children are grown and far away, beginning to feel that they are more of a burden - that it is better for them to die and "get out of the way" - based on the ministrations of people having those end-of-life talks with them. I don't know. I've never been old and alone, but I have been young and sort-of alone (or at least, felt alone), and I know it's possible to get odd and not-very-good things in your head based on someone else's persuasive speech.

It is sinful - yes, I'm using that word - for a person to decide on the quality of another's life. It is that person putting themselves in the place of God, saying, "I don't think this person should live because they are...." whatever: very old, very sick, very disabled, brain-damaged, whatever.

I also think of the things that were done to the mentally disabled in our own country's past - the forced sterilizations, the way they were treated in institutions. (I have known a few people with Down Syndrome in my life). In a lot of those cases, the argument was either "we know what's best for them," or "it doesn't matter; they won't know the difference."

"We know what's best for you" is one of those chilling phrases. I hope it is one that does not increase in frequency in the coming years.