{"id":216272,"date":"2020-01-03T12:59:41","date_gmt":"2020-01-03T18:59:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.liveaction.org\/news\/?p=216272"},"modified":"2020-01-03T01:08:00","modified_gmt":"2020-01-03T07:08:00","slug":"new-york-times-call-normalizing-elder-suicide","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/new-york-times-call-normalizing-elder-suicide\/","title":{"rendered":"New York Times writer publishes ‘thinly veiled call’ for normalizing ‘elder suicide’"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>

(National Review<\/a>)\u00a0We can always count on the New York Times<\/em> to promote destructive public policies and social agendas. In the latest example, the \u201cpaper of record\u201d published a piece that pushes assisted suicide as a solution to the significant challenges we will face from Baby Boomers getting old.<\/p>\n

First, Susan Jacoby recounts the familiar costs and predicted problems associated with increasing numbers of elderly people. But when the time comes to suggest solutions, the piece is very weak. Her inner feminist rails at \u201cA Place for Mom\u201d ads because it implies women will be taking care of \u201cdad.\u201d That just will not do. She also suggests that the elderly who want to work be accommodated by companies and policies to stay productive. A-okay with me.<\/p>\n

Then, she gets to the true point of her piece; a call to \u201ccreate a better reality for the old and their families\u201d by opening the door to legally killing the old birds. From, \u201cWe\u2019re Getting Old, but We\u2019re Not Doing Anything About It\u201d<\/a>:<\/p>\n

A healthier attitude toward aging also means examining moral issues. Physician-assisted suicide, for example, is the source of a fierce ethical debate that matters greatly to anyone who can imagine growing old. Questions about the end of life, like those about abortion, should be posed in every national forum.<\/em><\/p>\n

How would allowing old people to be assisted in suicide promote \u201ca healthier attitude toward aging?\u201d To the contrary, it would denigrate the elderly by transforming them into a killable caste when they need care.<\/p>\n

READ:\u00a0Three reasons a Dutch ethicist changed his mind about assisted suicide<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Back to Jacoby:<\/p>\n

According to a Gallup poll conducted last year, 72 percent of Americans agree that doctors should be allowed to help end a patient\u2019s life painlessly if there is no hope of a cure and the medical assistance is requested by patients and their families. The support drops to 65 percent if the phrase \u201cdoctor-assisted suicide\u201d is used instead of \u201cend a patient\u2019s life\u201d \u2014 yet another case of the American preference for euphemism.<\/em><\/p>\n

Jacoby\u2019s piece is a thinly veiled call for the normalization of elder suicide, perhaps even the creation of a societal expectation that the dependent old \u201cchoose\u201d to die in order not to \u201cburden\u201d their families and society. And be very clear: \u201cNo hope for cure,\u201d is far broader than a diagnosis of imminent death from a terminal illness \u2014 and indeed, could include many common conditions of old age, from early Alzheimer\u2019s, to speech difficulties caused by stroke, to a broken hip leading to morbidity, to loss of vision or hearing.<\/p>\n

As for family participation in the decision to die, has Jacoby never heard of the elder abuse crisis? That point aside, no law in the world<\/em> requires that families request euthanasia along with the patient. Indeed, families are kept in the dark because of privacy issues, and even when they learn of the death plans, they are powerless to stop it \u2014 as we saw in a case in Canada in which family members begged doctors not to kill<\/a> their depressed loved one, to no avail.<\/p>\n

Jacoby\u2019s column \u2014 published in the most influential op-ed page in the world \u2014 reveals how legalized assisted suicide could become a means of scouring society of dependent and expensive-to-care-for elderly, described by Jacoby as those who \u201clive long but not necessarily healthy lives.\u201d Kind of gives the ageist meme, \u201c#OKBoomer,\u201d a whole new meaning, doesn\u2019t it?<\/p>\n

Editor’s Note: This article was published at National Review<\/a> and is reprinted here with permission.<\/em><\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
\u201cLike\u201d Live Action News on Facebook<\/a>\u00a0for more pro-life news and commentary!<\/strong><\/em><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

(National Review)\u00a0We can always count on the New York Times to promote destructive public policies and social agendas. In the latest example, the \u201cpaper of record\u201d published a piece that pushes assisted suicide as a solution to the significant challenges we will face from Baby Boomers getting old. First, Susan Jacoby recounts the familiar costs […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":349,"featured_media":192308,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false},"categories":[7077,4],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\nNew York Times writer publishes 'thinly veiled call' for normalizing 'elder suicide' - Live Action News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/new-york-times-call-normalizing-elder-suicide\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"New York Times writer publishes 'thinly veiled call' for normalizing 'elder suicide' - Live Action News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"(National Review)\u00a0We can always count on the New York Times to promote destructive public policies and social agendas. 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