Vermont Newspaper: Save Money Through Assisted Suicide and Rationing

The argument is inevitable. When it is crunch time for health care dollars, look for someone to suggest saving money by legalizing assisted suicide and rationing care to older Americans. That’s exactly what the Addison County (VT) Independent proposes in an editorial.

“Money must also be saved in services delivered to people with chronic diseases and those who frequently use emergency rooms,…: two areas in which the community at large must help play an important role. Passing a law that allows physicians to help end a patient’s life under very controlled circumstances, known as ‘death with dignity,’ is one such measure that could help (an effort was tried this past session but postponed until next year. Another is approving some type of rationing measures, as Oregon has done, that help control health care costs.”

Earlier this year, Vermont passed a single payer universal health care law but doesn’t know how to pay for it. The debate continues as this newspaper, in the name of “pragmatism,” brashly and openly talks of killing people and/or rationing their care to save money. This is the daily battle we fight to eliminate the culture of death. It is more important than ever to establish a permanent culture which values life.

Read the editorial here.

Barbara Lyons