At times, its argued that socialized medicine will lead to killing people against their will because it's too expensive to care for them. A story in the Times of London illustrates the hazards of this happening:


    Leslie Burke, 45, who suffers from cerebellar ataxia, a degenerative brain condition, won a landmark case last May granting him the right to stop doctors withdrawing artificial nutrition or hydration (ANH) treatment until he dies naturally.

    The Department of Health, backing the [General Medical Council's] attempt to reverse the ruling, said that if that right were established, patients could demand other life-prolonging treatments. The department argues that this will create a culture in which patients request treatments "no matter how untested, inappropriate or expensive, regardless of doctors' views."

    Philip Sales, for the Health Secretary, told a panel of three appeal judges, headed by the Master of the Rolls, Lord Phillips of Worth Matravers: "A general right, as identified (in the High Court), for an individual patient to require life- prolonging treatment has very serious implications for the functioning of the NHS.

    "It may be interpreted as giving patients the right to demand certain treatments, contrary to the considered judgment of their medical team, that would lead to patients obtaining access to treatment that is not appropriate for them, and to unfairly skewed use of resources within the NHS."


Burke doesn't need a feeding tube yet, but his disease "may one day deprive him of the ability to swallow."

If the British government has its way, he will then die because his life costs too much.