Death to suffering

The Daily Mail reports that some doctors in Louisiana hospitals may have intentionally caused the deaths of their patients.

Some of the comments appear to imply that the injections of morphine were intended to relieve pain and suffering when the ventilators and other machines no longer had electrical power. Other comments imply that the intention was to kill those who could no longer be treated.

The principles of right and wrong do not change during times of disaster and stress. But, we are reminded of the importance of those principles in times of disaster. Sometimes in the violation of them and other times because these are the times when we are so much more likely that to be faced with the truly hard questions.

But it is in these times that we find out how well or how poorly we are prepared by habit and knowledge to practice what is right.

Doctors should never relieve suffering by killing those who are suffering.