Doctors at War
The thorny issue of assisted suicide has reared its head in the media once again. It is still illegal in the UK although the authorities often close their eyes to the practice which started when we were all living in caves and still continues to this day. The topic is even more relevant in times of war. For example during the Blitz over London, many thousands of people were seriously wounded, often in so much pain and without any hope of long-term recovery. Doctors and nurses had no option but to put them out of their pain, often having to carry out their acts without support.
This issue is mentioned in Doctors At War. A small girl is terrible wounded after an air raid and the doctor does not hesitate in administering a lethal injection. Many doctors said and still say that you wouldn’t let an animal suffer, so why do we let humans suffer? The book is loosely based on the lives of my grandparents and they passionately agreed with the previous statement. Of course there should be laws to control how this is carried out.