Euthanasium

In the apocalyptic movie “Soylent Green,” Edward G. Robinson’s character goes to a public facility to be euthanized.

Charlton Heston, playing a New York city cop, discovers this plan too late and can only watch his friend’s final moments. He then follows the body as it is transported unceremoniously in a dump truck along with dozens of other bodies to a well secured, industrial-looking “processing facility.” In the climactic ending, Heston learns that Soylent Pink, the newest food stuff being pushed to the starving masses of the world, is made from those human remains.

It is that entrance hall and greeters that haunt me, and I saw something very much like that yesterday. My wife and I entered at the Mayo Clinic facilities in Scottsdale, and there is a disturbing similarity, not just in appearance, but also to the process and the demeanor of the escorts as they steer the customers into what awaits.