(NRO) – First, bioethicists said people should be able to refuse being “hooked up to machines” even if that meant almost certain death. Good.
Then, they pushed that meme farther, arguing that the right of refusal (including by surrogates) should also include nourishment by tube so the patient dehydrates to death. Give them an inch . . .
After that, they said patients who are terminally ill (for now) should have access to prescribed poison to make themselves dead. Not good.
Now, they want to force caregivers to starve patients with dementia who eat and drink by mouth if so instructed in an advance directive. CONTINUE