There’s a fine new piece just out in POLITICO where Dr. Ira Byock calls out his fellow progressives for supporting physician assisted suicide under the guise of protecting civil liberties. He issues a strong indictment:

Just when moral outrage and radical social change are called for, my fellow progressives have embraced physician-assisted suicide as their political response to needless suffering of seriously ill people. This isn’t liberalism; it’s nihilism.

Byock, a palliative care physician, has long been involved in the hospice movement where he’s seen firsthand what those in the final stages of their life both need and want:  it’s care. Byock is rightly appalled that at a time when social responsibility is most needed, democrats want to capitulate and fast track the dying process by championing physician assisted suicide.

As Byock concludes, this is the complete opposite of good governance and a shameful indicator of how society treats its most vulnerable:

A healthy society doesn’t force its members to choose between suffering and suicide. I grew up believing that every person’s life has value and that America does not settle for less than the best. Suicide is not the answer. We are a far more generous people than that. Aged, ill and dying Americans need progressives to reclaim our commitment to bold, constructive political and social action.

Hear, hear!

Image by Victor via flickr (CC BY-SA 2.0)

 

 

 

Author Profile

Christopher White, Ramsey Institute Project Director