Britain's Government Policy of Silent Euthanasia

While many are trying to reassure us that there is no danger to the elderly, disabled, and chronically ill, the wording in areas of the health care bills presented, as well as the blatant rejection of specific wording that totally rules out funding abortion, etc in the recent past has many convinced that tax payer money will be used.

The same applies to those concerned about the conscience protection that is either missing or very ambiguous, for those of us who cannot participate in abortion, euthanasia, cloning, embryonic stem cell research, 'terminal sedation' or starving/dehydrating a person to death. The public option, putting our health care in the hands of the government, is also worrisome for many reasons, including what is happening in other nations:


Britain Already Has a "Government Policy of Silent Euthanasia": Anti-Euthanasia Activists



Read related LifeSiteNews.com coverage:

Britain Won't Prosecute Assisted Suicide: Chief Prosecutor


Britain's Pathway to Euthanasia - NHS Protocols for Dehydrating Disabled Patients to Death


British Doctors Practising "Slow" Euthanasia through Deep Sedation: BBC Report.

Catholic Senators Decisive Factor in Denying Conscience Protection

 This news from The Catholic Key makes my blood boil: 
 

Bottom line: Both conscience protection and a ban of federal funding would have passed but for the Catholic Senators.
 

News came out earlier today, that the Senate Finance Committee led by Senator Max Baucus refused to accept an amendment proposed by Senator Orrin Hatch specifically excluding federal funding of abortion in that committee’s version of health care reform. The vote was 10-13 against the Hatch Amendment. All Democrats on the committee, except Kent Conrad, opposed the amendment. All Republicans, except Olympia Snowe, supported it.

There is nothing surprising about the vote. Far more disturbing was a later vote by the same margin denying conscience protection to doctors, health care facilities and hospitals which refuse to perform abortions. Thirteen Senators, including Catholics John Kerry, Maria Cantwell and Robert Menendez, voted against a second Hatch Amendment which would have protected Catholics and other conscientious objectors to abortion from discrimination by the Federal Government.

Here are the Senators who opposed both amendments (Catholics in red):

MAX BAUCUS
JOHN D. ROCKEFELLER
JEFF BINGAMAN
JOHN F. KERRY
OLYMPIA J. SNOWE
RON WYDEN
CHARLES E. SCHUMER
DEBBIE STABENOW
MARIA CANTWELL
BILL NELSON
ROBERT MENENDEZ
THOMAS CARPER

Click here to read the entire story.

Protecting Access for Poor Patients, CMA Physicians Support Conscience Provisions in Alternative Healthcare Bill

The 16,000-member Christian Medical Association (CMA, www.cmda.org), the nation's largest association of faith-based physicians, today voiced support for the conscience-protecting provisions in the "Empowering Patients First Act," a bill introduced by Rep. Tom Price (R-GA 6th). CMA contended that the protections are needed to avoid a potentially catastrophic loss of faith-based healthcare on which millions of poor patients depend.

In a letter sent to Rep. Price today regarding the bill (HR 3400), CMA CEO Dr. David Stevens noted, "The Christian Medical Association is very concerned that some in Congress and the White House appear to be pursuing a conscience-hostile approach to healthcare legislation, opposing amendment after amendment that would provide solid--not rhetorically deceptive--conscience protections.
"Lawmakers must realize that threatening or minimizing conscience protections holds the potential to create a catastrophic shortage of healthcare access, especially for poor patients. Our national polling (available online at www.Freedom2Care.org) reveals that 95 percent of faith-based physicians are prepared to leave medicine altogether rather than violate their conscientiously held ethical convictions."

Dr. Stevens wrote, "As you know, President Obama has announced plans to rescind the relatively new federal provider conscience regulation, which also provides for such a reporting mechanism. It is imperative, therefore, to enact legislation that protects conscience rights from the whims of any administration that might minimize the opportunity to address civil rights violations related to conscience."
Dr. Stevens thanked Rep. Price for recognizing the need for strong, true and broad conscience protections.

"The bill [Sec. 106 Part (d) of HR 3400] also provides a critical component of conscience protections. Many healthcare professionals encounter pressure to violate ethical codes on many issues besides abortion. HR 3400 addresses this reality by offering appropriately broad conscientious protection 'to accommodate the conscientious objection of a purchaser or an individual or institutional health care provider when a procedure is contrary to the religious beliefs or moral convictions of such purchaser or provider.'"

In his letter, Dr. Stevens also noted the benefit of designating the Office of Civil Rights at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services as a reporting outlet for healthcare professionals experiencing discrimination for their conscientious stance on ethical issues.

"Besides protecting any individual or institutional health care entity from discrimination 'on the basis that the health care entity does not provide, pay for, provide coverage of, or refer for abortions,' the bill also provides the crucial implementation avenue needed to make such protection effective."

~ Via Christian Newswire.

Christian health professionals address 'right of conscience'

The Christian Medical Association has sent a wake-up call to Washington. The communication is the result of a petition signed by over 10,000 individuals.

David Stevens, president of the Christian Medical & Dental Associations, explains the objective of the petition.

"Well, we just sent a letter to President Obama as well as to members of Congress expressing concern over right of conscience and the fact that it's not protected in any of the [healthcare reform] legislation that's been proposed," he says. "In fact, there are direct attacks on right of conscience, which would force healthcare providers to participate in abortions as well as other procedures."

Read the rest here.