LETTERS: ASSISTED SUICIDE, EUTHANASIA SPREAD AROUND THE GLOBE

To the editor:

Not satisfied with eliminating so many children through abortion, mankind is now trying to kill off the helpless and the elderly.

The Netherlands has legalized assisted suicide and euthanasia after looking the other way for 20 years. In April, Sharon Carstairs, one of the foremost euthanasia activists in the Canadian Senate, was give special responsibility for overseeing palliative care. South Korea's Korean Medical Association has drafted a new ethics code allowing doctors to discontinue treatment on terminally ill patients on their own judgment, refusing demands for treatment by patients' families if they believe treatment is medically needless. The French health minister, Bernard Louchner, has proposed legalizing euthanasia. Belgian doctors believe sedation ending in physician-assisted suicide is good practice. And let us not forget Oregon, so far the only state that also practices assisted suicide.

Surely nobody can be surprised by the spread of this cancer throughout the world. Please keep in close touch with what is happening in the federal and state governments. Let our legislators know that we will not stand for these barbarities.

MARCUS R. SCHAEFER

Benton, Mo.