OBJECTIFICATION:

"Handiphobia" Leading Cause of Euthanasia: Interview With Neonatologist Carlo Bellieni (ZENIT, 6 MAY 2005)

The desire to do away with personal suffering is one of the driving forces behind euthanasia, an attitude described as "handiphobia," says an Italian neonatologist.

In this interview with ZENIT, Dr. Carlo Bellieni, of the Le Scotte Polyclinic of Sienna, talks about the phobia of handicap and the real reasons for incidences of euthanasia.

Q: The Groningen declaration (an agreement between the Dutch judicial authorities and Groningen's university clinic that authorized euthanasia in children under 12 without their consent) brought back to the center the problem of euthanasia in regard to newborns. How does a doctor of neonatology feel about such a possibility?

Bellieni: The first incredulity lies in the fact that today we have available in the area of neonatology analgesic drugs of such strength that to think that recourse is taken to euthanasia in cases of unacceptable pain is really anachronistic. The problem is that analgesic drugs must be used, but there are still resistances.

Q: But suffering is not only pain but also psychic distress.

Bellieni: Indeed! But while one can speak of suffering in an adult when faced with an ill-fated prognosis, this reasoning doesn't apply in the case of a newborn: It is obvious that suffering about one's future is not posed in the case of someone who is unable to reason about himself, or understand data, ideas and symbols.

Q: However, in time, once the neonatal age is passed, the pain and suffering of a child can manifest themselves.

Bellieni: Yes, but this will never make the state "not human," or "not worth living." We have testimonies of gravely ill patients who are more serene than certain "healthy ones." Suffering exists and it is a challenge, but not a "black hole" of meaningless tragedy.

Q: What is being said, then, about the suffering of someone for whom the cure proposed is euthanasia?

Bellieni: Perhaps something is being said about our own suffering. Why discuss the possibility of euthanasia with parents? ("It is vital to have an exact prognosis and discuss it with the parents," writes Verhagen in connection with the Groningen protocol). To involve the parents means that we are not on a path encased in certainties, but still subject to human passions, doubts and uncertainties.

That is why I say that euthanasia does not respond to the suffering of the patient, but of the one who decides.

which is why euthanasia is a selfish act--killing them is about us, not them.

Posted by Orrin Judd at May 13, 2005 6:58 AM