Culture of Death: The Assault on Medical Ethics in America [Paperback]

Smith has termed the assault on basic human values led by the twisted values of the Kevorkians and Singers as the "culture of death". This term is accurate and portrays this sub-culture as it really is.

Smith starts with cases of neglect where physicians or others try to kill or let die others due to a variety of reasons. Some of these cases are disturbing in hind-sight because you invariably can see the Ghosts of the Nazi ethicists lurking behind the scenes. Smith then includes chapters on euthanasia, physician-assisted suicide, withholding life-sustaining measures (like food and water), and finishes with chapters on organ donation and animal "rights". He presents lots of evidence and direct quotes from both sides. His treatment of the legal cases and legal reasoning involving these issues is especially strong.

Now, on a personal level, I am a physician who deals with these issues daily and there is truly a culture of death out there. Every day I fight a mostly losing battle with a system that argues more about pharasaical "rights" than what is best for the patient. Recently some family members of a dying patient kept vigil on a comatose relative so that he wouldn't "suffer" from the nurses turning him and wiping his butt after bowel movements. Mercifully, he died before I had to call in the police to remove them from the hospital. The family somehow felt that their "rights" to decide their loved one's care trumped common sense and decency.

One fault of this book is that it doesn't discuss the greatest culprit in the devaluation of life - abortion. "I will give no deadly drug to any - even if it is asked for. Similarly, I will not aid a woman to procure abortion." These lines from the Hippocratic Oath were the bulwark of medical ethics. Most doctors no longer take this oath, but a bastardized, liberal monstrosity that is meaningless. My advice is if your doctor doesn't believe the original oath then find another, because he doesn't have your best interests at heart.

In short, this book lacks pro-life information essential to this topic. That's why I gave it 4 stars. However, it does an excellent job showing how our society devalues life in the areas of euthanasia, physician-assisted murder, and the harm that the animal movement is doing to human beings.

Dare we call it worthless?

If only one of us was 'written off', then what about the rest of us? Aren't we all in the same boat? If we believe that some people can't be saved, that they are better off dead, how close are we to Euthanasia? To a new Nazi or Communist Regime?

Questions that should be asked, if I dare say so myself.