failed to eschew such discriminatory thinking as a matter of principle.It is an important part of the duty of the state to maintain a framework of law which is conducive to an essential profession such as medicine functioning well in the interests of citizens. The state would fail in that duty were the law to permit behaviour on the part of doctors which was corrosive of the doctor-patient relationship.6. The legalization of euthanasia undermines the impetus to develop truly compassionate approaches to the care of the suffering and the dyingThe proper expression of compassion is care motivated by a more or less strong sense of sympathy with the affliction of the person suffering. But one cannot care for people by killing them.It is very important to bear in mind that a key element in the context of contemporary debates about legalizing euthanasia is the drive to reduce health care costs. One of the conspicuous dangers of legalization is that, before long, euthanasia would be seen as a convenient 'solution' to the heavy demands on care made by certain types of patient. Medicine would thereby be robbed of the incentive to find genuinely compassionate solutions to the difficulties presented by such patients. The kind of humane impulses which have sustained the development of hospice medicine and care would be undermined because too many would think euthanasia a cheaper and less personally demanding solution.7. Three Committees established by English-speaking legislatures to consider proposals to legalize euthanasia have recommended that it not be legalized.1994-95 saw the publication of Reports of Committees established by the House of Lords of the UK Parliament, by the New York State Task Force on Life and the Law, and by the Senate of the Canadian Parliament. All these Committees were composed of people with different views on the intrinsic morality of euthanasia, yet they were clear in opposing its legalization. For example, the House o...
