‘Doctors are not God’ says health minister (Sth Africa)

News24 3 May 2015
Giving doctors the right to end a life is dangerous and could lead to a situation in which unscrupulous families arrange the premature deaths of their terminally ill loved ones to cash in on insurance payments.

That was Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi’s reaction to a landmark court ruling in favour of a man who wanted his doctors to be granted permission to help him die.

“This judgment has the potential to give rise to fraud and unethical behaviour among doctors,” Motsoaledi said.

“Very soon we will start hearing stories of families colluding with doctors to end the life of their loved ones because they wanted to cash in on insurance policies. Some people may even start planning their deaths because they know that their policies are maturing.

“We can’t have that situation in South Africa because it would be difficult to police and deal with. To prevent it, we must stop it before it goes any further,” he said.

Motsoaledi said doctors should not be given the right to end a person’s life because they were not God.
http://www.news24.com/SouthAfrica/News/Doctors-are-not-God-20150503