Is The Camel's Nose In The Tent?

As I was having my morning coffee, I found an AP story on Yahoo titled Dutch Gov't Considers Euthanasia Questions.

"AMSTERDAM, Netherlands - The Dutch government, the first to legalize euthanasia for some terminally ill people, will tackle an even thornier ethical dilemma: what to do when doctors say it is best to end the lives of infants, the mentally handicapped or the demented." Read more here.

A timely story in light of Terri Schiavo's battle against court ordered non-voluntary euthanasia. Some commentators and politicians say that Terri's case is just a family feud, the inference being that this is an isolated case. I don't think so.

The truth is that there is great sentiment here for euthanasia of any form.

First it was a call for physician-assisted suicide or voluntary euthanasia ala Dr. Jack Kevorkian that led to the Oregon physician-assisted suicide law. Non-voluntary euthanasia is the next step in euthanasia. For complete definitions that I found on euthanasia.com look here.

This is just another version of the camel's nose principle in action. The camel's nose is in the tent, the camel is cold and wants to come in tent and if the nose is allowed in, soon the camel will be all the way in and command the tent.

Another irony of Terri's story - as Terri is struggling for life because her feeding tube was removed; the Pope just had his feeding tube put in. I wonder what the decision about the Pope's feeding tube would have been had he lived in Holland or Florida?

This analysis has also been posted on Blogger News Network.