Monday, May 3, 2010
Playing God ...Thinking of something?
About euthanasia, mainly.
Studying for GP?
Not quite. Just my own thinking.
Well, what about it?
A few weeks ago I heard of this physician named Jack Kevorkian, who was known for physician-assisted-suicides some time back. One very notable thing he said after serving his jail term is that the very practice of medicine is a form of "playing God".
Oh, that. The argument used against abortion, euthanasia, and the like.
Yeah. He claims that the act of extending a human's lifespan is the same as interfering with a natural process. From what I can infer, extending lifespans or even saving lives would be similar to denying people deaths chosen by the natural cycle, and as such we're choosing whether we'll be living or dying. This choice between life and death is pretty much the basis of "playing God", isn't it?
This sounds like the views of a certain fictional medical terrorist group...
I know, right? So, if we're denying deaths through the act of saving lives, why not help people end their suffering by bringing a quick painless death? Either way, it's both playing God, right?
Well, maybe the definition of "playing God" is a little different from what we're looking at...
Seems that way. Most of the time when the "playing God" argument is invoked when we're looking at imminent death, like where abortion and euthanasia is concerned. As such, delayed effects like curing of diseases prior to birth wouldn't quite fall into this "playing God" thing, would it?
Or could it be the individual's choice that's the main cause of concern? Lots of times when this is invoked is when we're choosing whether someone lives or dies without their consent.
Then what about physician-assisted-suicides where the patient actually requests for it? This still kicks up a bit of a conflict between a patient's wishes and a doctor's duty to save lives. Not to mention, what if the subject can't even consent in the first place, like, oh, a foetus?
Hmm... Just how would a foetus be considered a human being and have similar rights to live, anyway.
If only the world was much more straightforward...
...You know what, let's make GUILT and kill them all.
We can't do that...
Only joking.
Labels: thoughts
END POST
Posted on 12:21 PM.
