Some Brits are shocked at Baroness Mary Warnock’s latest quote regarding the significant burden placed on Alzheimer’s caregivers and her call for euthanasia for the demented.
The St. Louis Examiner reported that she said, “Elderly people with dementia are ‘wasting’ the lives of those who have to care for them.”
Not only are they wasting lives, says Warnock, but they are also wasting resources. Not exactly warm fuzzies from the Baroness. Yet, in a socialized health care system every dollar spent on one person is a dollar not spent on another. Thus, years spent in a demented state means that tens to hundreds of thousands of dollars spent on a demented patient are not spent on essential preventive and life-saving services for children, young adults, and the middle-aged who have a chance of leading longer, healthy, fulfilling lives.
Thought about that way Warnock’s argument doesn’t seem so harsh. Is Baroness Warnock’s position cold-hearted? No. It’s practical.
Summer Johnson, PhD