My mind has spent a lot of time on Leslie's blog entry on Tuesday. And my thoughts on why our older citizens are being treated in such a cruel and senseless manner has to do with the power that we've given our governments and medical organizations in making decisions about our lives. I think we are allowing an outbreak of utilitarian bioethics to breed that will never go away unless we find a way to put a halt to it.
Utilitarians believe that every life should be assigned a value to society and that medical care should be rationed according to that assigned value. This philosophy supports the killing, by neglect, of the physically handicapped, Down Syndrome children, people over sixty with medical problems requiring expensive treatment like dialysis, and bypass surgery, and others. It's happening people.
A few months ago, I watched "John Q". This movie is based on a real life incident involving a man, a father, taking on the medical/insurance system when his child required a heart transplant that the insurance company refused to cover. I was sad, I was enraged, but I was also certain that this sort of thing happens every day.
I believe the bottom line, and if it's profitable, is all that matters in the majority of the incidents involving our seniors or our medically needy citizens. Government and big corporations should not have the power to make the decisions involving our lives.
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