Uma pausa no estudo de coisas tétricas

"It is easy to conjure up a parade of horribles in the context of end-of-life decisionmaking: greedy families wanting their inheritance sooner rather than later; lazy or unloving families (or loving but exhausted families) who consciously or unconsciously wish to be rid of the burdens of caring for an elderly relative; a young wife whose husband has been so critically injured that there is no hope for recovery but little prospect of a rapid death, who wishes to get on with her life and sees hastening his death as a means of easing her own burdens; parents of a seriously handicapped newborn infant who see nothing but endless years of agony for themselves and the child if it survives; doctors who are exhausted from dealing with such families; doctors who have become hardened to death and see it as preferable for patients who may still cling to their slender reed of life; and, of course, doctors whose personal financial well-being is adversely affected when dying patients take too long to die. There have been strong pressures and subtle pressures, financial and otherwise, in end-of-life decisionmaking from the very beginning." - Meisel, Alan (1999), "Managed Care, Autonomy, and Decisionmaking at the End of Life", Houston Law Review, 35, 1435.