Prospective of the Perspective

What concerns your humble pundit has to do not so much with what the current discussion means, but where the discussion will inevitably lead in its natural progression.

As someone with a legal background, I tend to agree with Mr. Krauthammer's analysis regarding his perspective:

My own living will, which I have always considered more a literary than a legal document, basically says: "I've had some good innings, thank you. If I have anything so much as a hangnail, pull the plug." I've never taken it terribly seriously because unless I'm comatose or demented, they're going to ask me at the time whether or not I want to be resuscitated if I go into cardiac arrest. The paper I signed years ago will mean nothing.

And if I'm totally out of it, my family will decide, with little or no reference to my living will. Why? I'll give you an example. When my father was dying, my mother and brother and I had to decide how much treatment to pursue. What was a better way to ascertain my father's wishes: What he checked off on a form one fine summer's day years before being stricken; or what we, who had known him intimately for decades, thought he would want? The answer is obvious.

But, where does the discussion naturally tend, and where will it end up in its natural progression:

What do you think such a chat would be like? Do you think the doctor will go on and on about the fantastic new million-dollar high-tech gizmo that can prolong the patient's otherwise hopeless condition for another six months? Or do you think he's going to talk about -- as the bill specifically spells out -- hospice care and palliative care and other ways of letting go of life?

My concern correlates with that what President Obama has participated with in the past, and how that will move forward with its natural progression. Meaning, precisely, that the lack of sanctity of life has as much to do with where that conversation will follow as anything else. It is document. It is not innocuous, and its applicability will be nothing more than poignant.

I think this is what is lost in the pro-life debate as much as anything. Abortionists consistently aargue that the correlation of advocacy of the death penalty should weigh in a pro-lifers….shouldn't the same be said here?