D. N. R. (Do Not Rescue)

The euthanasia resistance organization, Not Dead Yet, has issued a statement in response to an NPR story about the killing of hospital patients in the wake of Katrina. From the NPR story:

NPR has reviewed secret court documents related to the investigation and not yet released to the public. The documents reveal chilling details about events at Memorial hospital in the chaotic days following the storm, including hospital administrators who saw a doctor filling syringes with painkillers and heard plans to give patients lethal doses...

According to statements given to an investigator in the attorney general's office, LifeCare's pharmacy director, the director of physical medicine and an assistant administrator say they were told that the evacuation plan for the seventh floor was to "not leave any living patients behind," and that "a lethal dose would be administered," according to their statements in court documents.

When you read the whole story, and I know you will, you will notice that NPR does point out that the conditions were terrible and some of the patients might not have survived being evacuated. So, the doctors euthanized their patients to remove the danger of killing them during evacuation. That's why physicians and scientists shouldn't make ethical decisions for society.

[HT: Lost Budgie]