Bioethics Blog Defends Warnock’s Call for Killing of People with Dementia

Last week, Baroness Warnock, a well-known “ethicist” who has advised the British Government on health care policy for ages, shocked advocates for the elderly in the UK when she suggested that people with dementia should be assisted in killing themselves or even outright killed. She suggested that the lives of these people are a “waste” and eat up valuable resources.

Her statements have drawn condemnation from just about every corner, including advocates for people with dementia and their families. Even the pro-euthanasia societies in the UK haven’t jumped to her defense. (OTOH, they haven’t condemned the remarks, either, so maybe they’re taking a “wait and see” in terms of public reaction before they take a public stand.)

Alex Schadenberg and Wesley Smith both have entries on Warnock’s comments you can read.

I guess I shouldn’t be all that shocked, but virtually alone, out of all the voices out there commenting on Warnock, Summer Johnson, PhD has done what even pro-euthanasia forces in the U.K. have been too timid to do – defend (and coming close to endorse) Warnock’s statements and her reasoning:

Some Brits are shocked at Baroness Mary Warnock’s latest quote regarding the significant burden placed on Alzheimer’s caregivers and her call for euthanasia for the demented.

The St. Louis Examiner reported that she said, “Elderly people with dementia are ‘wasting’ the lives of those who have to care for them.”

Not only are they wasting lives, says Warnock, but they are also wasting resources. Not exactly warm fuzzies from the Baroness. Yet, in a socialized health care system every dollar spent on one person is a dollar not spent on another. Thus, years spent in a demented state means that tens to hundreds of thousands of dollars spent on a demented patient are not spent on essential preventive and life-saving services for children, young adults, and the middle-aged who have a chance of leading longer, healthy, fulfilling lives.

Thought about that way Warnock’s argument doesn’t seem so harsh. Is Baroness Warnock’s position cold-hearted? No. It’s practical. (Emphasis added.)

The Bioethics Blog is owned and operated by the editors of the American Journal of Bioethics, which is heavily loaded with bioethicists who work at or have ties to the Alden March Bioethics Institute (AMBI) in Albany, NY.

I want to personally thank Summer Johnson for firing a warning shot over the bow in terms of what kind of health care policy advocacy we can expect from the folks at AMBI. As a current resident of New York State, NY health care policy is a lot more personal for me than it used to be.

BTW, for those who might think that there’s something familiar about the sound of Albany and bioethics, NDY and CDR organized a visit to a conference organized by the group a couple years ago. Guess we could always visit them again sometime. –Stephen Drake

Addendum and Correction: Someone emailed me to let me know that neither Glenn McGee (former director of AMBI) nor Summer Johnson works at AMBI any more. McGee has officially transformed his Bioethics Education Network into a for-profit enterprise. I am guessing that is where Summer Johnson is working as well. To the extent that McGee’s enterprise is successful, there is good cause for concern for many of us who worry about the impact of certain bioethicists on policy makers – there is, after all, no way that policy makers have of distinguishing “good” ones from “bad” ones.