Assisted suicide: a wealthy elite will push vulnerable people to premature death
By Cristina Odone
Last updated: October 26th, 2010
Translation by Autumnson Blog
Florence Nightingale no more再沒有南丁格爾了
If we were to overturn the present law banning assisted suicide, 1,000 Britons would die in this way every year. Living and Dying Well, the new think tank that has made this calculation, is right to raise the alarm. But my concern is not the numbers who would turn to assisted suicide; rather, I am worried about who these potential suicides are.
如果我們要推翻現行禁止協助自殺的法律，1,000名英國人每年將會死於這種方式。生和死也好，新的智庫已作出這計算，是正確的去提出警報。但我關注的不是這些會變成協助自殺的數字；反之，我擔心誰是這些潛在的自殺者。
Prompted by a harrowing experience with my father, who asked me to help him die when he lay suffering in a hospital ward, I’ve spent the past year researching a pamphlet on this issue. I became more and more convinced, as I spoke to doctors, nurses, and lawyers, that the push for assisted suicide came from a strident elite. This group, articulate, well-off (or at least well-educated) and very much part of the system, knows exactly how to protect their interests. No one can push them around — certainly no one can push them into dying prematurely.
一個與我父親的慘痛經驗促使下，他要求我幫他死當他躺在醫院的病房捱苦的時候，我已花了去年的時間為這個議題研究一本小冊子。當我對醫生、護士、和律師說話，我變得越來越相信，即協助自殺的推動來自一個響噹噹的精英。這組口齒伶俐、富裕（或至少受過良好教育）和是系統的非常部分，確切地知道如何保護他們的利益。沒有人可把他們呼來喚去 - 肯定沒有人可以把他們推去早死。
But there is another group, a much bigger one. It is made up of Britons who, either because of their condition, education or income, do not control the levers of the system. They are very vulnerable to pressure from their family and friends, but also from authority figures — who belong, needless to say, to the elite. Should their spouse hint at exhaustion, after years of caring for them, or their grand-children start muttering about how much better off they would be if granny left them a little something for their studies, or, more sinister, should they feel that, in hospital, the medics are rolling their eyes at this bed-blocker taking up so much valuable time, care and attention, this group is likely to put up their hands and say, right, I’m going, don’t worry, I’ll spare you the trouble.
但有另外一組，更大的一組，由英國人組成，他們不是由於他們的條件、教育或收入，是不會控制系統的桿竿。他們對來自他們家人和朋友、但亦來自權威人物(不用說他們是屬於精英的)的壓力是非常脆弱的 。如果他們的配偶暗示耗盡，在經過多年對他們的照顧，或他們的孫子開始嘀咕關於如果奶奶遺下一些東西給他們學習，他們會更好，或者更邪惡，如果他們覺得在醫院中，醫務人員用這麼多寶貴時間、關心和照顧，在滾動他們的眼睛在這張床的人上，這組人很可能會袖手和說，對，我將要走，別擔心，我會免去你的麻煩。
Little by little, we would start expecting this acceptance of premature death. Our culture would shift from catering for the disadvantaged to killing them off. The image of Florence Nightingale hovering lovingly by the patient’s bed will give way to another image, of an impatient nurse, looking at her watch, tapping her foot, clearing her throat in a pointed hint: just push off, will you?
http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/cristinaodone/100060827/assisted-suicide-a-wealthy-elite-will-push-vulnerable-people-to-premature-death/
荷蘭擬為超70歲老人 提供自殺協助服務引爭議
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