Vera’s story must be a warning to us all

As doctors fear 'euthanasia by the back door' Felicity Smart describes her chilling experience when a elderly neighbour entered hospital

Hat tip to Father John Boyle

The case for killing granny

You just got to love a post that includes the sentence "nameless Mouth of the Dark Lord of Newsweek" as used by John C. Wright responding to the article by Evan Thomas on the "The Case for Killing Granny".

John C. Wright shows exactly why Mr. Thomas is wrong and is really being dishonest.

Americans are afraid not just of dying, but of talking and thinking about death. Until Americans learn to contemplate death as more than a scientific challenge to be overcome, our health-care system will remain unfixable.

We have often heard to explain things that Americans are afraid of death and in a culture that just about worships the body, or at least young bodies, so there is some truth to this. Though it would not explain why it is that many who are religious and who know we are more than just a body would object to euthanasia and doctor assisted suicide.

It is also rather interesting that he would talk about the need to "contemplate death as more than a scientific challenge." This of course exactly what the Church has done throughout the ages. St. Thomas Aquinas kept a skull on his desk to do just that and it is a good to think about our own mortality. But the contemplation of death unlike what Mr. Thomas asserts does not necessarily lead you to be more accepting of removing healthcare, but of understanding the proper respect for the human person whether they are at the end of life or not.

There are of course the distinctions in Catholic thought between ordinary and extraordinary care. Though often what was once considered extraordinary care can become ordinary care. Mr. Thomas is making no such distinction as the title of his article suggests. The problem with government healthcare is that it also does not make such distinction and will assign the divide between ordinary and extraordinary as to the costs involved.

John C. Wright's critique is much better than mine, just had to add my two cents.