Who decides who lives and who dies?

By Barbara Simpson

Do you remember Alfie Evans? He’s the British infant who was hospitalized at Alder Hey Hospital in London with a serious health condition, which the hospital determined to be “fatal.” Without the permission of his parents and after putting the infant on “life support,” the hospital disconnected his ventilator and then stopped feeding him.

It surprised everyone when he didn’t “just die” – but survived for nearly a week. His parents disputed his “treatment,” but had no success in preventing it. After four days of this, Lifesite News reported a nurse went into his room one evening and reportedly administered four unknown drugs by injection. Within two hours, Alfie was dead. That was May of 2018.

The cause of death never determined, there was no autopsy, and his parents were left bereft. The court ordered there be no coroner’s investigation.

Anyone with a grain of morality and common sense would see what happened to Alfie was deliberate murder. But in the UK, such “treatment” is regarded as “palliative care” – in other words, letting a person die.

It’s been reported that hundreds of patients die annually in NHS hospitals because staff can determine a person is “dying” and thus withhold food and hydration.

Think back to Charlie Gard, also in the UK and in a similar situation.
He was hospitalized, then taken off support and died a week before his first birthday.

Both of these stories made worldwide headlines but there are hundreds of thousands of other stories involving patients of all ages, and so far the law seems to support these deaths.

The law in California dealing with brain death and when doctors can make life and death decisions has been challenged in our courts. The two most evident cases involved what’s called a “persistent vegetative state” in which a comatose patient shows signs of life.

Jahi McMath was a patient in Oakland, California. The hospital issued a death certificate, but the girl showed signs of life. The mother managed to find another facility for her, and in fact sued the hospital for malpractice. Jahi eventually died of other causes as the legal case moved on.

Another California case involved two-year-old Israel Stinson who was determined to be brain dead, had life support turned off, and a death certificate issued. His mother disputed that verdict because he showed signs of life. She found another facility to care for him. Eventually, he was moved to L.A.’s Children’s Hospital and then to Kaiser. Both hospitals determined to disconnect him from life support. Kaiser forcibly did it and the baby died. His mother is suing the hospital for removing Israel from life support.

Question: Do hospitals have the right to end patient’s lives without their consent?

It’s called euthanasia, The Right To Die, Palliative Care, and a whole list of fancy terminology, which essentially means that sick, disabled humans, old or young, can be killed by the very people who are supposed to prolong life.

Remember what Barack Obama said about situations like his when discussing health care with a reporter. He was asked about a 100-year-old woman who needed a pacemaker. What did he think abut that? He said he thought she would be “better off not having the surgery, but taking painkiller instead.”

Ah yes, palliative care.

Keep in mind, his “Science Czar,” John Holdren, was a supporter of compulsory population-control laws, including compulsory abortion, which he said the Constitution would sustain.

Do you wonder why Iceland has virtually NO Down Syndrome children or adults? It’s because pregnant women are tested, and if the test is positive for Downs, she has an abortion.

The issue of state-sanctioned “assisted suicide laws” is rampant across the country. According to the Patient’s Rights Council, between January 1994 and 2019, there were over 270 laws proposed in more than 39 states and the District of Columbia. Of those, six states and D.C. gave doctors the power to prescribe lethal overdoses of drugs.

In the rest of the states, the battles continue. For example, in California a bill was passed which lets people kill family members in assisted suicides. It allows them to advise, sign off on the method, and financially benefit from the death, which contradicts existing law that considers such actions a felony.

Now, Nevada is taking it a step further with a pending bill that permits doctors to refuse continuing care of a patient who has requested it, or whose relative has made the request.

In other words, the patient wants to continue to live, but the doctor or other health professional can make another decision, end that life, and suffer no legal consequences.

Hawaii, New Mexico, Maryland, Oregon, Oklahoma and Maine each have bills which would do the same; and these are in addition to the horrendous abortion bills those states are dealing with.

What does it say about our current civilization that we are so dedicated to devising laws that make it “acceptable” and “legal” to kill humans when they don’t fit our idea of someone who has the right to live?

In reading through the email comments on the Church Militant site on Dec. 21, 2017, I came across the following poem, from “Linda.”

I couldn’t resist it, given the abortion horrors we’ve been reading about these last few weeks, especially given that Lent is about to begin for Catholics and other Christians, followed soon by Easter.

Away With the Manger

Away with the manger, no crib, baby’s dead;
A cold metal forceps has crushed his sweet head.
His body in pieces, no crying he makes;
Ashamed and regretful, his mother’s heart breaks.

Where are You, Lord Jesus, when Your babies die?
“In the dark, bloody bucket My Body doth lie.
Whatever you did to the last one of these,
Remember, oh man, you did it to Me.”

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Barbara Simpson

Barbara Simpson, "The Babe in the Bunker," as she's known to her radio talk-show audience, has a 20-year radio, TV and newspaper career in the Bay Area and Los Angeles. Read more of Barbara Simpson's articles here.


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