Physician Killings.

   The debate re euthanasia continues to rage and Quebec has put a hold on its imminent introduction.  Indeed it seems the Supreme Court decision may be delayed beyond the original one year mandate.  The  issue of the  influence of euphemism (a mild or indirect word or expression substituted for one considered to be too harsh or blunt when referring to something unpleasant or embarrassing.) is eloquently dealt with by Barbara Kay in a recent article in  the National Post.  We cannot deal with the phenomenon until we have the courage to call it by its true name.  Just as the American administration cannot address terrorism until they recognize it as that, so the medical  administration ( mostly composed of non physicians ), cannot possibly deal with medical killings until they call it by its true name.  For the most part when we use the word euthanasia, we are not talking about suicide, assisted suicide, physician assisted suicide, we are talking about physician killings.  If society cannot even tolerate its name, physicians should be even more aggressive about defining it.  We must define issues related to killing patients clearly, even if just to make sure future generations of young physicians are not socially engineered to accept this non medical function as an  obligation of medical care.
     I  would suggest that what we refer to as euthanasia  and other euphemisms for that act be redefined so as to  describe exactly what it is - Social Killing.   As I have emphasized before, if physicians allow killing to become part of their duties they will have done  the profession irreparable damage.  Physician involvement in end-of -life care is called palliative care.  If society wants social killing others can easily trained to provide the service.  Physicians are not 'service providers', much as the political/administrative ranks would like to  make them so.  The feckless role of the College of Physicians and Surgeons is regrettable. 

" We have now sunk to a depth at which restatement of the obvious is the first duty of intelligent men."
George Orwell.


 Has nobody any views on this issue?