"A little something to send him on his way"

Some years ago I spent some time with a good friend who was well into his nineties and was unwell.He was then living in a nursing home in mainland U.K.and was not expected to live much longer.He had no disease nor illness as far as I could establish and according to those who knew better,including the medical people, was suffering from nothing only "being worn out by old age".
Certainly as far as I could see,and I had seen people dying,he was in no obvious discomfort,and although bed bound was perfectly lucid while awake.He slept a lot.Some days he was in better form than others,a bit up and down you might say.
The nursing home was a grand place ,a hive of activity and full of the constant clamour and conversation and human activity you would expect from such a place.The interaction between the staff and the residents was excellent.It seemed a happy place.
Then one day I walked in to visit the friend and was just about to mount the stairs  when a deadly silence suddenly intruded.All conversation stopped and the residents scurried off to their rooms.I never saw an area empty so quick nor silently.Thinking that maybe the sudden change in the atmosphere had something to do with my presence I gazed frantically around.Nothing to  do with me.
But a person  closer than myself to the friend was ahead of me on the stairs accompanied by a doctor and advancing towards the room of my friend.All eyes were fixed on this pair and it became clear to me that their presence was the cause of the silence.I stopped in my tracks and sat down ,not knowing what to think.I suppose I thought the worst and that my friend had died.
I waited their return.The doctor walked past and out and my friend's last visitor  sat down beside me.Still the deadly silence.We walked outside."Is he dead ",said I."No ,he was on the way out and we gave him a little something to help him on his way" said he.
True to his word my friend died within the hour.I think and believe that an injection of morphine was given.The person was in no pain and didn't need pain relief.
My friend was cremated.
Suddenly all became clear.This was standard routine in that home.That was the reason for the silence.The residents and staff knew full what the script was.Giving a little something to help people on their way was normal practise.But what if my friend was not on the way out.I will never know.
My friend's life was shortened.He may have lived for hours or days or weeks or longer.Who knows?
How universal is this practise in the U.K.?
In my opinion the disregard for preborn human life inherent in abortion in that country has permeated the physique of the medical profession there.If you think it o.k. to terminate human life in the womb it is but a short step to shorten it as the end of the natural life span approaches.It tidies up loose ends and only advances the inevitable.
Not the Christian way,which may explain why those who favour abortion attacked and sneered at the Catholic stance in the recent Dail Committee hearings.
I don't consider the U.K. a civilised country since that experience, am very wary of medics who are in life and death calls routinely and may easily fall into the  "god "complex and lose touch with decency and proper practise.
I hope that we as a country never adopt this attitude to human life and firmly believe that any  legislation introduced the allows for the lawful killing of an unborn child ,save where the continued current physical existence of the mother is gravely threatened,ought not be introduced.
I am disabled.I am lucky to have a suppertime wife and family to keep me going.In a few years time I will not be improved for the better.Suppose I was doubly incontinent ,bed bound and a nuisance to mind and with no  close relatives to care for me ,but want to live on,will some desensitized friend and doctor also give me a little something to help me on my way?
Be very vary careful .Don't introduce a culture of death.