A recent TV documentary about a quadriplegic inspires Dalrymple’s thoughts on euthanasia and assisted suicide in the Daily Express.
The Skeptical Doctor
Blog categories
Dalrymple’s Essays
- BMJ (Dalrymple)
- BMJ (Daniels)
- City Journal
- First Things
- Law & Liberty
- Manhattan Institute
- New Criterion (Dalrymple)
- New Criterion (Daniels)
- New English Review
- New Statesman
- New York Post
- PJ Media
- Quadrant
- Salisbury Review
- Second Opinion
- Spectator (Dalrymple)
- Taki's Magazine
- The American Conservative
- The Critic
- The Epoch Times
- The European Conservative
- The Oldie
- The Telegraph
Dalrymple’s Books
- Saving the Planet and Other Stories
- Around the World in the Cinemas of Paris
- Embargo and Other Stories
- In Praise of Folly
- False Positive
- Illness as Inspiration
- The Terror of Existence
- Grief and Other Stories
- The Proper Procedure and Other Stories
- The Knife Went In
- Nothing But Wickedness
- Migration
- Good and Evil in the Garden of Art
- A Pinch of Salt
- Out Into the Beautiful World
- Admirable Evasions
- Threats of Pain and Ruin
- The Pleasure of Thinking
- Farewell Fear
- The Policeman & the Brothel
- Anything Goes
- Mr Clarke's Modest Proposal
- Litter: How Other People's Rubbish Shapes Our Life
- The Examined Life
- Spoilt Rotten
- The New Vichy Syndrome
- Second Opinion
- Profeten en Charlatans
- Not With a Bang But a Whimper
- In Praise of Prejudice
- Romancing Opiates
- Our Culture, What's Left of It
- Life at the Bottom
- An Intelligent Person's Guide to Medicine
- Mass Listeria
- If Symptoms Still Persist
- So Little Done
- If Symptoms Persist
- Monrovia, Mon Amour
- The Wilder Shores of Marx
- Sweet Waist of America
- Filosofa's Republic
- Zanzibar to Timbuktu
- Fool or Physician
- Coups and Cocaine
Recent Comments
- Claire on Is Physical Therapy Overrated?
- Matt on Is Physical Therapy Overrated?
- Matt on Theodore Dalrymple on H. G. Wells’ ‘The Time Machine’
- Chuck Hortler on Over Sharing
- BikerGirl on Is Physical Therapy Overrated?
- William Vaughan on Waste of Ink
- Dom on Once Upon a Time in Moscow
- David Seri on Punishment in Search of a Crime
- Ralph Lloyd on Punishment in Search of a Crime
- Steve on New Edition of The Examined Life
Theodore Dalrymple’s article about euthanasia was as astute as always. However, I felt he ended his essay too quickly. There is a huge ethical issue to be explored, and I believe it must be written and spoken about, as there is, at least in North America, a definite and growing interest in assisted suicide and euthanasia. The growth in the numbers of lives ended in The Netherlands seems to indicate there is indeed “mission creep”. As the baby boomer generation ages and becomes a greater burden on the medical system, there will be pressure to institute certain procedures to for instance, ease those judged (again by whom?) to have little quality of life, to an earlier “departure”. Oh, it will all be done with the greatest of sensitivity and care, but once it starts and the obvious cost benefits are demonstrated in the books of our government run medical services, perhaps the subtle pressure to cease being a burden won’t be quite so nuanced. The handicapped and the aged may find themselves on a very slippery slope indeed.