Medical Science under Dictatorship: COVID-19 Must Not Open Door to Euthanasia

Syria News makes available Dr. Leo Alexander’s full paper on Medical Science Under Dictatorship which was originally published in The New England Journal of Medicine, July 1949. Given the media and politicians on both sides of the Atlantic are attempting to use the COVID-19 pandemic as a foot-in-the-door to the legalization of euthanasia via fear tactics of scarce medical equipment, his words must be brought to the public’s attention. In one of his last interviews, Dr. Alexander reaffirmed the moral imperative that medicine and society should never again be permitted to deem there is such a thing as “life not worthy to be lived.” He was in a nursing home at that time.

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In this alarming 1949 article, Leo Alexander examines the horrific crimes committed by Nazis in Germany and explains their shocking relevance to our modern society. He lists the gruesome atrocities committed by Nazis to eliminate the “useless” members of society – those with incurable mental or physical illnesses. The accounts are so horrific that one wonders how the Germans could have arrived at such a bleak state of moral numbness. Alexander argues that it all began with the belief that there is “such a thing as life not worthy to be lived.” Doctors began to ask the question: are those with chronic illnesses worth the cost and trouble of treatment that may prove hopeless? Alexander claims that the medical community in America has already begun to ask a similar question. Doctors are losing interest in people with chronic illnesses, and often consider it more worthwhile to treat people who can be healed and restored to a normal (useful) life in society. Alexander reminds us, “Corrosion begins in microscopic proportions.” While this may seem to be a fairly harmless attitude at first, ultimately it will be destructive of society and even self. The only life-preserving, sustainable attitude is one that cares for every suffering individual, regardless of his chance of being healed.

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Science under dictatorship becomes subordinated to the guiding philosophy of the dictatorship. Irrespective of other ideologic trappings, the guiding philosophic principle of recent dictatorships, including that of the Nazis, has been Hegelian in that what has been considered “rational utility” and corresponding doctrine and planning has replaced moral, ethical and religious values. Nazi propaganda was highly effective in... Continue reading: https://www.syrianews.cc/medical-science-under-dictatorship-covid-19-must-not-open-door-to-euthanasia/