Posts Tagged ‘Bioethics’

Earlier this year, President Obama disbanded George W. Bush’s Bioethics Council. Headed first by Leon Kass, and later by Ed Pellegrino, the Bush Bioethics Council was right-leaning, heavily theologically influenced, and rife with controversy. Elizabeth Blackburn was fired from the council after disagreeing over the Council’s theological bent on issues such as stem cell research and abortion. President Obama just got the ball rolling on a new Council, appointing UPenn President and noted political theorist Amy Gutmann as chair and Emory University President James Wagner as vice chair. See GEN for more updates.

Sir Edward Downes and Wife Joan

A few days ago, looking for the obituary of Darrell Powers, I found an obit in the New York Times about the assisted suicide of Sir Edward Downes and his wife. Downes’ wife Joan was terminally ill with cancer. Downes, while not terminally ill, was 85 and losing both his sight and hearing. The couple elected to travel to Switzerland and end their lives together.

Subsequently I found a series of posts over at Double X addressing the couples decision from a variety of view points. It’s a great exchange about an issue that’s sure to become more and more prevalent in the coming years. At this time in my life I’m firmly in the camp that supports legalizing this practice. Not throwing open the doors mind you but it is cruelly bad policy to keep it illegal.

I think the American culture surrounding death is very different from that around the world. We’re imbued with the idea that life is priceless and every additional second is worth pursuing at any cost. It colors our debate about the health care system and I’m excited to see if this congresses go round with the question produces some sort of real discussion about when enough is enough. Will we step back and reconsider the idea that death is bad or death is good and entertain the notion that death just isn’t.