Whether it's babies with handicaps or relatively healthy elderly patients, some doctors think they have the right to determine who lives and who dies. Their decisions are frequently based on "quality of life" determinations which have absolutely nothing to do with the patient's illness. These modern Dr. Mengeles play God, and unsuspecting families listen to them at their peril. Here are a few examples.
Doctors Refused to Help This Baby With Trisomy 18, She Almost Died But This Happened
This little girl needed surgery to lengthen her jaw and open up her airways. The first hospital refused. The second gave her the life-saving surgery she needed.
Jim Sedlack, head of STOPP (Stop Planned Parenthood) tells a family story that illustrates how doctors use comfort care to kill the elderly whom they consider useless and ready for the glue factory.
Do the research on palliative and hospice care. Many care givers are moral, compassionate people, but Dr. Mengele's clones are out there. Jim Sedlack's article describes how, when his family initially selected comfort care for his elderly mother-in-law, during an illness, the immediate action by the hospital was a morphine drip. This, after the family was assured she wouldn't be given morphine or any unnecessary drugs. It seems the morphine drip is standard procedure for "comfort care" in some places. The nurse told them they start the morphine drip and stop checking vital signs. Wow!
Jim's mother-in-law was in no pain so why the drip? Morphine suppresses breathing and is a common means these days to hasten death. The family immediately withdrew their permission for comfort care and demanded treatment. Jim's mother-in-law was back at the nursing home a week later where the staff loved her and welcomed her with open arms. She lived another six months enjoying all the group activities of the home.
The moral of the story? Just because someone is wearing a white lab coat, has an M.D. after his name, and works at a hospital, doesn't mean he has a patient's best interests at heart. Be your own and your family's advocate.
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