Art Caplan, Director of the University of Pennsylvania Center for Bioethics, dropped me a line to give me his reaction to Warnock’s comments about people with dementia. He gave these to a reporter at ABC but says they weren’t used in whatever coverage they ended up giving to Warnock:
No one has a duty to die. The notion that society should ‘expect’ someone to end their lives because they fear being a burden upon others is simply ethically repugnant. It is one thing for a person to decide that they do not want to accept medical care –and this decision may include considerations of their quality of life or even the economic consequences of their decision for those they love. There are patients today who refuse expensive cancer drugs knowing they will only get minimal benefit at a huge cost that will bankrupt their families. But individual decision-making should never ever be coerced or pressured by societal considerations–third parties or legislators–weighing in that it is best for them to die! Society must do
all that it can to provide the mean to efficacious medical care to all who want it. The Warnock view risks taking the frail and vulnerable and making them expendable–a position that no humane society can or should take.
In his note, he also said he was “shocked and saddened” by Warnock’s statements.
Unlike Caplan, I wasn’t shocked by Warnock’s statements. Other than that, I am pretty much in agreement with the sentiments expressed in the paragraph above. It would have been nice if ABC had used his remarks. –Stephen Drake