How can we even discuss euthanasia without providing access to palliative care?
It is not at all unusual for palliative care units to see people in pain begging to be killed because they have reached the limits of their suffering.
What would you rather do? Attempt to relieve their suffering or say, “Come; lie down, let us kill you. We even have attractive choices for you with lovely names. Euthanasia. Assisted suicide. Choose!”
Please see the position statement from IAHPC: International Association for Hospice and Palliative Care Position Statement: Euthanasia and Physician-Assisted Suicide
“IAHPC believes that no country or state should consider the legalization of euthanasia or PAS until it ensures universal access to palliative care services and to appropriate medications…”
We would like to go one step further and shout from the rooftops: “We do not even have the ethical right to discuss euthanasia, till we have provided access to basic palliative care services to the suffering.”
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