In ancient Greece, the asclepion was a healing temple dedicated to Asclepius, the God of Medicine. Asclepius learned the art of surgery from the centaur Chiron and had the ability to raise the dead. The Rod of Asclepius is a roughhewn branch entwined with a single serpent.
Wednesday, August 22, 2007
Euthanasia II
Is the movement for euthanasia a response to the medical need for control? In the previous posts, I have proposed that medicine accepts that we will die. It is not the goal of medicine to make us immortal. Yet medicine seeks to close off all the avenues to dying. We treat those diseases we can, and seek to treat those we have yet to solve. Does this mean the way out of the paradox is to put death under the purview of medicine? But should doctors, purely aligned to life and living, also put on this second hat of responsibility and gatekeeping?
thought the purpose of medicine is to alleviate suffering, which includes but is not limited to the curative aspects.
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