That is the title of a column by David Brooks in yesterday’s New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/15/opinion/15brooks.html?_r=3&nl=todaysheadlines&emc=tha212
Brooks comments on an op-ed piece in last Sunday’s New York Times by Dudley Clendinen, who has ALS. Clendinen’s piece expressed the author’s inclination to commit suicide when his condition worsened. (Teresa already posted about Clendinen’s essay. http://uffl.org/blog/?p=1139 )
The column by Brooks has now prompted some powerful comments by Wesley Smith (http://www.firstthings.com/blogs/secondhandsmoke/2011/07/15/david-brookss-bag-of-skin-language-promotes-anti-disability-loathing/ )and Ryan Anderson (http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/271998/good-short-life-and-human-dignity-ryan-t-anderson). Smith notes the dehumanizing language employed by Brooks to describe patients with disabilities, and notes how the financial issues will increasingly push a “duty to die.”
Richard M.