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第 132 课:Euthanasia: For and Against 安乐死:赞同还是反对-2

Should doctors be allowed to take the lives of others? Dr.Wilfred van Oijen, Cees van Wendel's doctor, explains how he looks at the question: 能允许医生结束他人的生命吗?齐斯·范·温德尔的私人医生威尔弗雷德·冯·奥依金解释了他对这个问题的看法:

"Well, it's not as if I'm planning to murder a crowd of people with a machine gun. In that case, killing is the worst thing I can imagine. "哦,这种情况和我计划用机关枪杀死一大群人完全不一样。若是那样,杀人是我所能想象的最可怕的事。

But that's entirely different from my work as a doctor. I care for people and I try to ensure that they don't suffer too much. That's a very different thing." 但我作为医生实施安乐死和用枪杀人是绝对不同的。我是关心人,我要尽量保证他们不受更多痛苦。这和那种情况完全是两码事。"

Many people, though, are totally against the practice of euthanasia. 然而,仍然有很多人坚决反对使用安乐死。

Dr. Andrew Ferguson, Chairman of the organization Healthcare Opposed to Euthanasia, says that "in the vast majority of euthanasia cases, what the patient is actually asking for is something else. "反安乐死健康医疗"组织的主席安德鲁·福格森说:"在使用安乐死的大多数病例中,患者实际上需要的是其它的东西。

They may want a health professional to open up communication for them with their loved ones or family - there's nearly always another question behind the question." 他们可能需要在健康专家的指导下,与所爱的人或家人进行交流。"

Britain also has a strong tradition of hospices - special hospitals which care only for the dying and their special needs. 英国晚期病人收容所有着牢固的传统,一种专门护理垂危病人并满足他们特殊需要的特殊医院。

Cicely Saunders, President of the National Hospice Council and a founder member of the hospice movement, argues that euthanasia doesn't take into account that there are ways of caring for the dying. 国家收容所委员会主席和收容运动的发起人茜西莉·桑德斯认为,使用安乐死把护理垂危病人的其它方式都排除了。

She is also concerned that allowing euthanasia would undermine the need for care and consideration of a wide range of people: "It's very easy in society now for the elderly, the disabled and the dependent to feel that they are burdens, and therefore that they ought to opt out. 她还担心允许使用安乐死会减少很多人对于照顾和关心的要求。"在今天的社会里,这样很容易使老年人、残疾人和靠他人生活的人们感到自己是社会的负担,应该从生活中消失掉。