Doctor David E. Richmond is Professor Emeritus of Geriatric Medicine at Auckland University in New Zealand. He is speaking out against a forum which, in his opinion, provides a perfect example of “deceptive, emotive language” to “convince the general public that euthanasia is the Holy Grail of medicine“.
After more than forty years of medical practice as a physician, geriatrician and palliative care manager, and having rubbed shoulders with many end-of-life patients, he states that he has never seen a person die with such unmanageable suffering“.
“Even with the best equipment and tests, incorrect diagnosis and prognosis are surprisingly common,” he explains. He is concerned that the lives of too many people can be “ruined and that freedom disappears” in this quest for the “Holy Grail”.
Indeed, if “intensive care practitioners perform acts of compassion that lead to the death of patients on a daily basis“, Doctor Richmond is “seriously concerned that an elite group could break the law and not be held responsible“.
NZ Herald (16/01/2018)