Posted on 07/08/2015 12:33:47 PM PDT by Salvation
Here in Washington D.C., the City Council has before it a bill modeled after Oregon’s physician-assisted suicide law. Listed as the “Death with Dignity Act of 2015,” a public hearing will take place this Friday, July 10th at 11:00 AM in the District building.
Experience thus far with legalized assisted suicide should alarm anyone who looks seriously into how it has played out. The “safeguards” of the Oregon law, so highly praised by its supporters, seem to be mere window dressings than actual safeguards. In Oregon, people are getting lethal drugs who live much longer than six months, and with the only data coming from the doctors who prescribe the lethal dose and no governing body charged with investigative oversight, the information coming from Oregon is suspect at best. The 2014 Oregon Assisted Suicide Report indicates a dramatic 44% increase in assisted suicide. It also indicates that only three of the dead had received a psychiatric evaluation.
Thankfully, a rather significant coalition of disabilities advocates, medical professionals, pro-life organizations and faith communities opposes this so-called “right-to-die” legislation. The American Medical Association (AMA) also opposes it, stating, “Physician-assisted suicide is fundamentally incompatible with the physician’s role as healer, would be difficult or impossible to control, and would pose serious societal risks.”
Why should we as Catholics oppose assisted suicide legislation? There are many reasons. Some of them are informed by our faith, others are more rooted in natural law or reason, while others flow from the consequences that will ultimately result from legalizing this form of suicide.
Let’s consider first what the Catechism teaches about assisted suicide, or euthanasia:
Those whose lives are diminished or weakened deserve special respect. Sick or handicapped persons should be helped to lead lives as normal as possible. Whatever its motives and means, direct euthanasia [or assisted suicide] consists in putting an end to the lives of handicapped, sick, or dying persons. It is morally unacceptable. Thus an act or omission which, of itself or by intention, causes death in order to eliminate suffering constitutes a murder gravely contrary to the dignity of the human person and to the respect due to the living God, his Creator. The error of judgment into which one can fall in good faith does not change the nature of this murderous act, which must always be forbidden and excluded.
Discontinuing medical procedures that are burdensome, dangerous, extraordinary, or disproportionate to the expected outcome can be legitimate; it is the refusal of “over-zealous” treatment. Here one does not will to cause death; one’s inability to impede it is merely accepted. The decisions should be made by the patient if he is competent and able or, if not, by those legally entitled to act for the patient, whose reasonable will and legitimate interests must always be respected.
Even if death is thought imminent, the ordinary care owed to a sick person cannot be legitimately interrupted (CCC 2277-2279).
Thus the Catechism defines euthanasia as the intentional killing of a patient, usually by direct means such as injection with deadly drugs, and sometimes indirectly by refusing to provide food and/or water. Assisted suicide includes similar means (lethal prescription, etc.) and shares the same end as euthanasia (an act intending to cause death to eliminate suffering); the distinction lies in who initiates the act – self or other. This distinction can often become blurred when one looks at the rising incidences of elder abuse, coercion and isolation experienced by many of our seniors, whether dealing with illness or not.
One cannot emphasize enough that allowing a person to die by refusing or withdrawing burdensome treatments, or by not providing machines such as ventilators that are unlikely to be therapeutic, does not qualify as assisted suicide. Church teaching does not require that one pursue every treatment possible. The patient must discern carefully with information supplied by his medical team along with an assessment of his personal resources – spiritual, psychological, emotional, familial and financial – whether or not a particular treatment is excessively burdensome. However, even for an imminently dying person, basic care (which usually includes nutrition and hydration, even if administered through a tube) must be provided.
Pain management for those with terminal illnesses, degenerative diseases, and the dying is allowed and encouraged, even if the pain medicine has the unintended side effect of shortening life. Arguments that dying is too painful and therefore a patient should be euthanized are not valid, since it is very rare today that pain cannot be managed reasonably through the advancements of the growing specialty of palliative care.
Let’s consider some other reasons, both religious and natural, that we should oppose assisted suicide. I’ll begin with the natural reasons that should concern us all, including those of different or no faith tradition. Then I’ll move to the religious reasons that should influence us who believe.
There are many more reasons to oppose assisted suicide purely on rational grounds. You can find more of these here: www.noDCSuicide.org. I would like to move on to those reasons that originate from our faith in Jesus Christ.
One of my privileges as a priest is to have accompanied many people on their final journey toward death. I’ve also accompanied their family members. And in making these journeys, I have discovered that some of God’s greatest and most necessary work takes place in and during the process of natural death.
Natural death is an important part of life that should be respected and accepted, not rejected. Some very important things happen for us on our death bed that assist us spiritually, psychologically, and emotionally. And these things happen not only to us, but to our loved ones as well.
I have seen pride melt away; I have seen powerful contrition for past sins emerge. I have seen gratitude intensify, both in the one who is dying and in the love ones who surround him or her. I have heard beautiful words like, “I love you,” “I am proud of you,” “I will miss you.” I have seen people let go and let God take over. I have seen forgiveness, tenderness, appreciation, and love being shared as never before. There is also the beautiful gift of listening and waiting, along with lessons learned that will never be forgotten.
I do not say that there is not grief and emotional pain; there is. But that is not all there is; there is beauty and love, too. And these are important and necessary. Perhaps some of the most necessary and profound things take place on our deathbed and at the deathbed of others.
Supporters of the legalization of assisted suicide might argue that these beautifully human and transformative moments also occur when one takes death into his own hands. I have no doubt that many tearful goodbye’s are shared and some reconciliation among family members occurs as well; but there is a very different quality and transparent authenticity within these moments when one has surrendered his/her life and control over to God.
The dying process helps us to receive the Kingdom of God like a little child, and God says this is necessary for us. As God directs Samuel: Do not look at his appearance or at his physical stature … For the Lord does not see as man sees; for man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart (1 Sam 16:7). Yes, even in the painful sight of once-strong individuals reduced to weakness, there is a kind of strange beauty and we must ask the Lord to give us the “eyes to see” (cf. Mt 13:16). In the nursing homes of this land are people who once ran businesses, raised families, and led communities. Now many have returned to a kind of childhood, even infancy. Some cannot walk, some have to be fed, some can no longer talk, some clutch dolls, and some must wear diapers. All this seems so horrible to many, but important things are happening. These are not conditions that any one of us would willingly choose or wish upon another; however not one of these losses, even the significant loss of intellectual capacity in such diseases as Alzheimer’s, diminishes my worth and dignity. I do not want to minimize the pain that accompanies these losses – and the pain is not limited to the patient alone. Often family members and caregivers undergo significant stress and experience the pain of our Blessed Mother at the foot of the cross.
Again, something important is happening here.
Are those in nursing homes really so different from you and me? Maybe death and dying are the “place” where all worldly status, all privilege, all inequalities are leveled and we simply become who we are. Are we not all little children to God? Does He not have to provide for every one of us in our need? Does He not have to feed us, clothe us, and enable us to speak? Perhaps it is just that with the elderly and dying the illusion of self-sufficiency has been shed. The Lord says, Unless you change and become like little children you will not inherit the kingdom of God (Mat 18:3).
As Christians, we must once again reaffirm our acceptance of the Cross. No one likes the Cross – it is a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles (1 Cor 1:22), but we have been taught by Christ that the Cross is both necessary and saving. And we must insist, at least among our own number, upon the belief expressed by St. Paul: So we do not lose heart. Though our body is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this momentary affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal (2 Cor 4:16-18).
Think carefully before you support assisted suicide through some sort of limited notion of compassion. The truest compassion is to want for someone what he truly needs in order to be saved. Only God can ultimately say what this is. We do not have dignity because we can control our own lives; we have dignity because our life is in God’s hands.
States across the country have been rejecting efforts to legalize assisted suicide. Please take a moment to join the groundswell of opposition to this bill.
The leftists just might eliminate their votes! LOL!
God gives you the rights of which you speak.
Aren’t you glad your mother didn’t have an abortion.
Always remember that God is PRO-LIFE!
He will wait for you to repent of your attitude.
We had a lady here in our condo association who chose to kill herself.
Guess she couldn’t offer up the pain and join Christ in HIS pain.
This is physician assisted.
Anyone who assists another in dying — are they a killer?
Anyone who assists another in dying — are they a killer?
1 Peter 4:
15 But let none of you suffer as a murderer, or as a thief, or as an evildoer, or as a busybody in other men’s matters.
16 Yet if any man suffer as a Christian, let him not be ashamed; but let him glorify God on this behalf.
I believe it is something a doctor who is a believer should consider very careful, and then refuse to do it, let it be on the hands of the unbelievers.
Jesus Himself said, greater love hath no man than to give his life for his friends... And, I believe, the person would not die, even then, if the Lord didn't will it so... Either way, I believe that soldier would have a place reserved in Heaven, just for being willing to die for love of others.
Jesus Himself said, greater love hath no man than to give his life for his friends... And, I believe, the person would not die, even then, if the Lord didn’t will it so... Either way, I believe that soldier would have a place reserved in Heaven, just for being willing to die for love of others.
There are a lot of different ways to give your life for some one or something if circumstances arise.
That's interesting... Both, I guess. I don't know how those around the patient, could live with themselves after being complicit in another's suicide: to me, that's tantamount to murder. And if the person in question suffers in the afterlife for choosing as they did, then those who helped will have to answer for that as well. You brought up an interesting dimension to the question. How do the enablers throughout the patient care hierarchy, live with what they've done?
bttt
That’s interesting... Both, I guess. I don’t know how those around the patient, could live with themselves after being complicit in another’s suicide:
I hate the idea of doctor assisted suicides as it is kind of like bounty hunting or killing for hire.
At the same time I have to remember only God can see the hearts of the ones who are on either end of the game.
One instance which comes to mind is the apostle Paul who was by some definations a killer for hire.
Acts chapter 7:58-60 chapter 8:1-3
1 Corinthians 15
9 For I am the least of the apostles, that am not meet to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God.
The out come of it all was that Steven was raised to glory land and Paul became a Christian who hated what he did so much that it was a thorn in his side for the rest of his life.
And any one who reads his writing can see that it actually caused him to be over zealous and too controversial on the opposite side but even so God can read hearts.
Yours obviously did though.
I believe in my heart that a person is entitled to the last moment of life God gives them, until natural death. I agree that only God can read a person's conscience, but is the desire on the part of the family? Do they consider death somehow "undignified?" Our Lord is the perfect example: stripped; crucified, outside the city walls where the garbage was dumped; He drank that Cup of suffering to the dregs, until all was finished and He gave up His Soul to Our loving Father. He is our example that death, no matter how difficult, how traumatic for a person's loved ones, is part of our humanity and not undignified on the eyes of God.
We cry when we lose a loved one- for ourselves, because we miss them. Families who think this is somehow a humane act must remember, Thou Shalt Not Kill, and put into perspective whose pain they are actually taking into consideration- their loved one's, their own?
Assisted suicide is not self-defense, nor defense of God and country. It is attempting to hasten or introduce a process which is God's alone to decide upon.,
One instance which comes to mind is the apostle Paul who was by some definations a killer for hire. Acts chapter 7:58-60 chapter 8:1-3 1 Corinthians 15 9 For I am the least of the apostles, that am not meet to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God.
St. Paul, IMHO, was unique in his position for a variety of reasons. 1. He was a Roman citizen, so they kept off his back before his conversion. 2. Remember that the Jews are a people, not just a Faith. There was a bit of a political element in there, too. 3. Oral Sacred Tradition was part of Jewish learning for centuries-including the time of Jesus; it wasn't until the destruction of the 2nd Temple in 200ad that it was written. One of the Rabbis whose highly-respected commentary was included, was Gamaliel, at whose feet St. Paul studied.
My point is, it was not a simple matter of hatred, as with Muslims today. There were other factors, other reasons, why Saul was so zealous to squash this new sect. It wasn't until Jesus Himself defined it as persecution, that Saul realized his zeal was misdirected.
A soul who does not complete the race, nor finish the life God planned from his/her conception is protecting no one, nor defending an ideal. They are taking into their hands fruit that is forbidden, as did our first parents. We are not God and cannot decide for ourselves or another. For me, the man at the Falls was an example of the Will of God over that of man- and God's exclusive right to decide one's time to be called to Him.
The out come of it all was that Steven was raised to glory land and Paul became a Christian who hated what he did so much that it was a thorn in his side for the rest of his life.
And any one who reads his writing can see that it actually caused him to be over zealous and too controversial on the opposite side but even so God can read hearts.
I believe that the heart of Saul, as I said, was misdirected, but a good one, nonetheless. He felt he was doing the right thing, but then Jesus guided him Himself. You bring some good points into the discussion: St. Paul regretted what he did; he, in turn suffered for the spreading of the Word he had once despised; he turned his life completely around, and did not abandon his flocks, but kept his ear to the ground and kept in touch to advise and admonish where necessary.
God does read our hearts, considers all things, and is just and merciful. But I in my heart believe that assisted suicide is murder, and a slippery slope in the respect for the life, including suffering, that God allows us- until He decides to call us home to Him. Paul is a profound example of the acceptance of suffering. Each of us, as followers of Jesus, would do well to imitate him and accept, rather than shorten the trials sent to us, or allowed to befall us, through God's Holy Will!
How sad...
But I in my heart believe that assisted suicide is murder,
At the same time I believe only God knows the facts, if a man shoots himself in the head how do we know that he did not hang on until the last second?
I am not upholding the suicide doctors nor the legalization of it, I am only upholding the peoples right to end their life if they want and at the same time have a lot of doubt if any one actually has the choice or just thinks they do.
Other than those doubts I will say you are right on target.
FWIW, I believe that any time that another person's willing act is performed for someone to commit suicide, it is an act of murder on that other person's part.
When seen in that light, the morality of "assisted suicide" is very black-and-white for me.
When seen in that light, the morality of “assisted suicide” is very black-and-white for me.
1 Peter 4
15 But let none of you suffer as a murderer, or as a thief, or as an evildoer, or as a busybody in other men’s matters
If a Christian commits murder it is the Christian who does the murder who suffers.
The murdering doctors are most likely not Christians but like Paul may actually repent, just a thought.
Another ping to this thread.
Suicide is an evil thing, although perhaps less so if the person who does it is mentally ill.
But "assisted suicide" is libspeak for getting a doctor to kill someone. That is another kind of evil. Doctors are supposed to save lives, not take them. The ancient oath that all doctors took for thousands of years, until some med schools dropped it, is "Do no harm."
We have gotten to the point where you no longer can trust some doctors to do no harm. That, I am afraid, is the intention of liberals who push bills like this. Like Hitler, they want to euthanize the "useless eaters."
It's like gay marriage. The real purpose is not to make everyone equal, but to destroy the institution of marriage and undermine families.
This begins by them saying they are “assisting suicide”, but the truth is that, for their own motives, they want to murder. Even the pretense of “assisted suicide” doesn’t last long before their blood lust takes control of them, and they start murdering those who cannot ask to die; then those who would not ask to die, but are unable to say no to the murderers; then finally openly murdering any they can without even notifying their families.
In Britain, their preferred and cheapest means of murder is to deny even conscious and unwilling victims water and food. Murder by starvation.
And, truth be told, serial murderers will not stop murdering just because they are asked. They are as addicted to it as are heroin junkies. What may convince them to stop is if they feel their own lives are on the line, that there might be retribution against them for their acts of murder.
Not heavenly retribution, because most such are not occupied with concerns about heaven. Fears of Earthly retribution are more to the point.
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