Medical Patina on Homicide

Wesley Smith, an expert on medical ethics said, “Euthanasia is not the practice of medicine.  It just puts a ‘medical’ patina on homicide.” That applies to what a physician did in Belgium.  He gave a terminally ill patient a lethal injection at her request.  When she didn’t die, he finished the job with a pillow.  An autopsy confirmed suffocation.  This was apparently a bridge too far for officials in Belgian, one of the most popular one-way tourist destinations for euthanasia.  Smith said, “The use of medications and the doctor’s presence is just a veneer that hides the harsh truth of what is being done. [It’s] solely about making the patient dead.”  The pillow worked.  The family’s suing.  Their attorney said they want to ensure “that sick rooms do not turn into crime scenes.”