A
CATALOG OF
WORRIES, PROBLEMS, DANGERS, PERILS, ABUSES, & MISTAKES
POSSIBLE UNDER ANY SYSTEM PERMITTING CHOSEN DEATH
Whenever laws are changed to permit a new form of
human behavior,
bad
consequences might follow from
changing the laws.
Some of these abuses and mistakes might be quite rare and unlikely.
But all conceivable problems should be taken into account
when safeguards are built into any new laws.
No system of safeguards will be fool-proof.
No matter what methods are used to prevent mistakes and abuses,
some bad consequences
will still occasionally slip past the safeguards.
This is where the civil and
criminal penalties come into play.
Whenever someone has been guilty of causing a premature death,
the criminal-justice system should have the capacity to uncover that
crime
and to prosecute the persons responsible.
Safeguards to permit voluntary death or merciful
death
should at the same time discourage
irrational suicide and
mercy-killing.
Premature death is the harm
we
all want to avoid: dying too
soon.
Here are the most common problems, worries,
dangers, abuses, etc.
Other mistakes, problems, & perils can be added as they are
suggested.
Each problem with the right-to-die is given a careful, detailed
formulation.
After each possible abuse is explained, several
safeguards are linked
that would be most useful and effective in preventing that
specific problem.
PROTECTING
PATIENTS FROM GREEDY RELATIVES
PROTECTING
PATIENTS FROM FAMILY PRESSURE TO DIE
PROTECTING
PATIENTS FROM
HEALTH-CARE ADMINISTRATORS WHO MUST SAVE MONEY
PROTECTING
VULNERABLE PATIENTS FROM DISCRIMINATION
CERTAIN LIVES
ARE WORTHLESS
PROTECTING PATIENTS FROM BEING PUT TO DEATH
WITHOUT AUTHORIZATION
IF WE PERMIT
HELPFUL DEATHS,
HARMFUL DEATHS WILL FOLLOW: THAT SLOPE IS TOO SLIPPERY
PREVENTING
MERCY-KILLING
SUICIDE IS A
SIN AND OTHER RELIGIOUS OBJECTIONS
GOD WILL DECIDE
WHEN LIFE WILL END:
WE SHOULD NOT 'PLAY GOD'
CONTROLLING
FREE-LANCE 'ANGELS OF DEATH'
PRESERVING
GOOD DOCTOR-PATIENT RELATIONS:
WILL MY DOCTOR DECIDE TO KILL ME?
PREVENTING
DOCTORS FROM MISUSING THEIR PRESCRIBING-POWER
TO CAUSE PREMATURE DEATH
DISCOURAGING
TEEN-AGERS FROM KILLING THEMSELVES
created February 23,
2007; revised 7-17-2008; 8-30-2008; 11-2-2008; 12-3-2008; 1-17-2010;
5-21-2010;
2-25-2011; 12-18-2011; 2-18-2012; 3-25-2012; 9-11-2012; 3-1-2013