Quote:
Originally Posted by dklassen
You are missing a very important point. You are talking about the most extreme cases. Soon as you give government decisions over live and death, treatment or no treatment, the standards will slowly be lowered over time
First it will be those "kept alive with surgically placed feeding tubes" denied care. Next it my be those over 80 who get cancer. Then it may be those over 70 who get cancer. Next it may be your wife or your husband.
Trust me when I say just like social security the standards will start to change and the only difference is, limits will go down instead of up.
I've heard the pro abortion folks say a million times. "Its between a woman and her doctor." Guess that only counts for abortions and not keeping people alive.
As the money gets tighter, the care for the elderly will get less.
I don't know about you but it scares the hell out of me thinking the government will have a part in making those decisions.
It's up to God when it's your time to go not the government.
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I can assure I am not missing the point and I can further assure you I am not talking about the most extreme cases. This is a large and ever growing issue as the demographics of our society show bigger shifts toward the aging of our population with more to come. Equating it with abortion is simply more sensationalism and does not address the issues above. "Keeping people alive" is one of the issues at the very essense of the discussion here. The definition of "living" seems to vary (from simply a beating heart sustainable only by massive amounts of drugs and support to actually viable existence). SO often patients are left to languish on extraordinary support measure likely causing intense discomfort up until the moment of death because either the physician is to uncomfortable to broach the subject or because the family refuses to.
I don't believe for a minute the people of this country or the goverment are looking for wholesale culling of the elderly population by witholding care.
Ultimately it is up to God when it is your time to go, not the government or anyone else. I also think that God gives us intelligence, knowledge and choice to some extent as to how we partcipate in that process.