Baroness of Death - UK Medical Ethics Expert Warnock Wants Demented Elderly To End Their Lives

A stereotype exists in the mind of the average American that suggests the English are well-mannered, quite proper, and more civilized than us Yanks. That's why it's such a shock to hear that Britain's leading moral philosopher and medical ethics expert, Baroness Helen Mary Warnock, has said that the elderly who are suffering from dementia are a burden on their families and on medical services and should end their own lives.

We may not know her over here in the States, but Lady Warnock is a highly respected government adviser who helped Britain establish the law regarding fertility treatment and embryo research. Her opinions carry a great deal of weight. As my internet buddy from Malta Tanja Cilia says, "She's a person whose mindset is the kind of 'if I say so, it must be right' type." So her recent pronouncement earlier this month has people worried.

The UK newspaper The Telegraph reports:

[Warnock] said pensioners in mental decline are "wasting people's lives" because of the care they require and should be allowed to opt for euthanasia even if they are not in pain.

She insisted there was "nothing wrong" with people being helped to die for the sake of their loved ones or society.

The 84-year-old added that she hoped people will soon be "licensed to put others down" if they are unable to look after themselves.

Her comments in a magazine interview have been condemned as "immoral" and "barbaric", but also sparked fears that they may find wider support because of her influence on ethical matters....

Recent figures show there are 700,000 people with degenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's in Britain. By 2026 experts predict there will be one million dementia sufferers in the country, costing the NHS an estimated £35billion a year.

Lady Warnock said: "If you're demented, you're wasting people's lives – your family's lives – and you're wasting the resources of the National Health Service....[I]f somebody absolutely, desperately wants to die because they're a burden to their family, or the state, then I think they...should be allowed to die.

"Actually I've just written an article called 'A Duty to Die?' for a Norwegian periodical....suggesting that there's nothing wrong with feeling you ought to do so for the sake of others as well as yourself."

Note that Warnock herself is 84 years old. Apparently she's in complete control of her faculties, otherwise why would she encourage the demented elderly to off themselves? Unless, of course, she's slowly growing demented - an interesting moral Catch-22. And a very unexpected twist on the idea that women are nurturers and caregivers and do so at the expense of their own lives and well-being. Not so when it comes to hard-hearted Baroness Warnock.

Tanja, who alerted me to this disturbing story, doesn't like what the Baroness is promoting any more than I do. She's made a very strong case for why this is a bad idea in her blog at the Times of Malta.