(The Corner) – There is a proper international uproar over UK doctors winning the right in court to unilaterally remove the infant Charlie Gard from life support. Some have commented on the case as if that is a product of the UK’s socialized medical system.
It’s not. It is a product of utilitarian bioethics advocacy for the right to refuse wanted life-sustaining treatment–called “futile care”–based on the doctor’s or a hospital bioethics committee’s values on the moral worth of the ill patient’s life and/or the high cost of care Similar authoritarian care withdrawals as has been imposed on Charlie Gard have happened here too–and to very ill patients of all ages. CONTINUE