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.”
Medical Patina on Homicide
