[normanpubbie]

Euthanasia, killing someone or helping a person to kill himself or herself, is purely and simply murder. Intent is an integral part of euthanasia. According to the sitting NOLA DA and the law professor quoted in the article, intent is absent here.

The reason I mentioned euthanasia is that posts numbered 5,6,7, and 9 implied that the doctor performed euthanasia.

Mamzelle, the question you posed in post #8 occurred to me, too. What did the doctor mean by "getting rid" of the patient? Dr. Cook's explanation for his actions is quoted further down in the article and I cited it in my post #13 because it is relevant to the story.

HiTech, in post #12, you posed a fair question and here is my answer. I don't see a slippery slope; I see instead a bright line. Dr. Jack Kevorkian, AKA "Doctor Death," served 8 1/2 years of a 25-year sentence for second-degree murder. Kevorkian intended to kill people. Do you see the difference?

[Mamzelle]

"Getting rid" could mean something as simple as making the patient be quiet! or to find another personnel to take care of a patient. Or "GOMER"--Get Out of My Emergency Room. Most of the time a doc will conceal his annoyance, or his own distress. There's even some humor you would not find funny. Thanks to the legal profession, the relationship between docs and patients is distrustful and often antagonistic. If a doctor seems evasive, he doesn't trust you.

Do you hear some people say, "the doc only gave me a month to live, and hear I am! What a quack!" This is very likely a fiction, and the doctor probably gave him a range of expectations based on literature and experience, and gets to be called a quack for his efforts.

Pain meds hasten death. They also get terminally ill patients out of pain.

And sedation can deal with a patient, particularly under adverse circumstances, so you can move on to the next patient.