Pulse
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January 8, 2016 (NationalReview) — Peter Singer and others in bioethics have opined that assisted suicide should be available to prisoners who would rather die than serve their sentences.

Jack Kevorkian believed that too, and also that anyone being euthanized should be allowed to be organ donors.

Belgium approved the euthanasia killing of a life termer, but backed down in the flurry of criticism and mocking that followed (the country disallows the death penalty).

Belgium also couples euthanasia of the mentally ill and disabled with organ harvesting.

Now, in Tennessee, three prisoners want to be be Singer-Kevorkian-Belgiumed. From the WMC story:

Three inmates at the Turney Center Industrial Prison said they want to be euthanized and donate their organs rather than serve life behind bars without parole.

One of the prisoners said he has a family history of heart problems, cancer and blood pressure. He said the state can avoid handling those costs by granting him a death with dignity request.

Kenneth Thomas was convicted of murder in 2003. He has filed a permission to appeal with the Supreme Court for the State of Tennessee.

The document claims Thomas wants to donate his organs to his ailing parents. It goes on to say prisoners with no chance of getting out should “have this small semblance of choice and control to end their suffering when it, undoubtedly, become unendurable.”

This won’t happen. But the lawyers for the prisoners sure have the culture of death lingo down.

These prisoners are merely following the logic of our utilitarian times. Unless we change societal course, someday such requests could be granted.

Reprinted with permission from National Review