Japan Minister’s Solution: The Elderly Should “Hurry Up and Die”
Comment: As Dr. C.L. Gray says, government compassion sounds so noble, but government-run medical systems quickly degenerate into brutal cost-cutting buzz-saws. Imagine being told by your own government that you should die before you think it’s time and ask yourself whether you would really wish that on any other human being, or force it on the entire country which is what’s coming if America toys with the notion of a single-payer program.
“Japan’s new government is barely a month old, and already one of its most senior members has insulted tens of millions of voters by suggesting that the elderly are an unnecessary drain on the country’s finances. Taro Aso, the finance minister, said on Monday that the elderly should be allowed to “hurry up and die” to relieve pressure on the state to pay for their medical care.”
“To compound the insult, he referred to elderly patients who are no longer able to feed themselves as “tube people”.”
“It is not the first time Aso, one of Japan’s wealthiest politicians, has questioned the state’s duty towards its large elderly population. In 2008, while serving as prime minister, he described “doddering” pensioners as tax burdens who should take better care of their health.”
Let elderly people ‘hurry up and die’, says Japanese minister
Justin McCurry
January 22, 2013
http://m.guardiannews.com/world/2013/jan/22/elderly-hurry-up-die-japanese