Posted on 11/23/2006 1:06:06 PM PST by Coleus
Euthanasia Robs Dying of Opportunities for Reconciliation, Family Connections, Says Leading Ethics Professor
Fr. Robert Spitzer speaks at pro-life conference in Vancouver
The last stages of life serve as a vital “wrap-up” period that provides opportunities for important developments in relationships with family and friends, said Fr. Robert J. Spitzer, S.J., ethics expert and co-founder of the Center for Life Principles, at a B.C. pro-life conference on Saturday. He said the end of life period should never deliberately be cut short. Speaking at the International Pro-Life Conference held in Vancouver Nov. 16-18, Fr. Spitzer identified dominant myths put forward by the pro-euthanasia movement--arguments, he said, that prey on the vulnerable elderly who fear suffering and don't want to be a burden.
“The final six months of life frequently see a significant improvement in reconciliation, in relationships with family and friends, in the passing on of wisdom and a personal legacy to family, and in a great investment in the relationship with God,” Fr. Spitzer said. The assumption that terminally ill patients have a low quality of life is simply not accurate, he said, when a narrow definition of life quality based on physical health and freedom of movement is expanded to include a much greater emphasis on relationships.
He pointed out that while euthanasia advocates frequently rely on the argument of inadequate pain treatment to promote legal assisted suicide and euthanasia, in fact research has shown that 96 percent of terminal pain can be adequately controlled through advances in morphine use, without significant loss of consciousness. According to a report by the World Health Organization, 97 percent of requests for assisted suicide were withdrawn after the patients received adequate pain management and treatment for temporary depression.
Legal euthanasia and assisted suicide will create a culture of suicide, Fr. Spitzer warned, as life value is measured more and more in terms of physical health and independence. “Young people will hear this as a legitimate solution to pain and suffering,” he said. “Schools will carry this. What becomes legal becomes normative, what becomes normative becomes moral.” Fr. Spitzer said it is imperative that governments resist the push to legalize euthanasia, despite pressure from activist organizations who claim euthanasia should be a personal choice. “There is a basic principle at work here. One person's option can—and will—become another person's duty to die.”
President of Gonzaga University and founder of the Institute of Professional Ethics in Seattle and the Institute on Character Development at Seattle University, Fr. Spitzer is a world-renowned speaker, author and lecturer.Visit Healing the Culture website: http://www.healingtheculture.com/calendar.shtml
My prayer for your maternal grandmother. Have you ever thought that her pain might have been for the greater good?
It is untold thousands who have called on the Lord for comfort during these moments. We never know how many have attained heaven during these trying times due to their pleading.
God Bless.
What you speak of is voluntary organ donor euthanasia, in which the idea originates with the donor. Wait and see: State-sponsored organ donor euthanasia, which I speak of, is not your ideal. Think about China. It's coming.
What you fail to acknowledge is basic human nature. People are never happy with the status quo. They must forever push the envelope. The physician assisted suicide culture that exists in Oregon is only the beginning. It's the first step, usually the hardest one. The next ones will be easier, and they will come. The road will be greased by idealists who believe it is a good thing to have "the option."
I doubt that doctors who routinely terminate lives of their patients are working hard on cures.
I would be greatly reassured, if you present data showing me that I am wrong.
You started with it... So I am waiting for your data...
Making a common sense statement is not "starting it."
I'd be reassured if you can show me I am wrong.
With the pancreas,with cancer or after pancreatitis, some people have terrible somatic pain, not from usual pain fibers but the "sympathetic nervous system". This type can respond to a block of the sympathetic plexus (I had one woman addicted due to the pain after her pancreatitis...she got off narcotics after we blocked it).
The patient I mentioned on 300 mg morphine IV had a morphine drip into his spinal cord to control the pain, and lived like that for three months. When he was terminal, we removed it and it took the huge dose that I mentioned to relieve his pain. They also can cut the spinal cord: An old treatment that if done wrong can paralyze you. I haven't seen this done in 30 years. They also can do local nerve blocks and numb it if it is a limb etc.
Sometimes anti seizure medicine can help nerve pain, or anti depressant medicine.
The main problem is metastases, i.e. so many areas hurt that you can't block them all.
Wesley Smith's book is a good guide to pain. Power over pain
A very intelligent man. He's right. Now, if this point could be made in the political debate. Ideological liberals don't care about these concerns, since they see man as simply an animal and care only about our physical well-being. True conservatives need to take up the argument. No one else will, because no one else cares about our civilization.
Thanks for your detailed reply. I'll check into Smith's book, too.
BTTT and thanks for posting, Coleus.
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