“Whatever its motives and means, direct euthanasia 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.”
—CCC 2277
I’ve had a few questions about physician assisted suicide. And I honestly had to think about my response. The recent case in France that has pitted the government against the UN resurrected this issue.
The culture of death is slowly pervading society and the recent change in laws globally are quite evident. In the Netherlands and Belgium around 1.7% percent of deaths are “involuntary euthanasia”. In hospitals and other medical facilities for decades under the labels of “Snowing” and the “Slow Code” euthanasia is widespread. I believe New Jersey already passed a law allowing physician assisted suicide. It’s the ninth state to do so.
Euthanasia is a Current problem
This is not a problem of the future. It’s very much ongoing. Consider these two cases. For starters, the Nancy Cruzan case. Nancy was in a coma for almost eight years. She was NOT dying and NOT deteriorating. The courts ruled that food and water could be discontinued, and 12 days later she died. She did not die of the coma but of starvation. Nancy was 33.
Another case is where Dr. Jack Kevorkian, let Janet Adkins, a 54 year old sufferer of early Alzheimer’s, use his homemade “suicide machine” and die All she had to do was push a button which released lethal fluids into her body. He has similarly administered death to dozens of others.
In Canada, doctors are fighting so that the WMA (World Medical Association) holds its stance on euthanasia. There’s a campaign to drop condemnation of all forms of euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide where the practice is now legal.
The Vatican Stance
According to the 1980 declaration from the Vatican, Jura et Bona, “euthanasia”, or “mercy killing” is defined as “an action or an omission which of itself or by intention causes death, in order that all suffering may in this way be eliminated.”
Two Catholic health care groups are urging the public to resist a measure to advance assisted suicide.
The National Association of Catholic Nurses (NACN), with the support of the Catholic Medical Association (CMA), are urging the public to submit comments in opposition to a proposed position statement of the American Nurses Association (ANA) that recommends nurses directly or indirectly assist patients seeking “aid in dying” (AID).
France and the right to die
Vincent Lambert’s case in France where 2 hours after stopping his feed, the court stepped in and asked doctors to continue feeding him. The family is divided about how medical care should proceed. France already has laws of “passive euthanasia.”
What the doctors were going to do, was discontinue feeding and then administer strong sedatives that would depress respiration and end his life. I’m not so sure this is “suicide” at this point.
Do No Harm
A survey of physicians in the US has shown most physicians support physician assisted suicide. And that number was reported at 70% at one of our CMA meetings.
I’ve heard similar proponents of the case while we were taking care of burns patients. Self-immolation is very common in dowry deaths in India. Often, during my surgery call, I’d see to near total burns victims. The nurses were often divided into two schools of thought. One; if the patient is going to die anyway, why administer antibiotics, silver sulfadiazine, IV fluids, pain meds, etc. Alternatively other nurses believed that we should do everything we can to save a person’s life- who knows they might just pull through.
My understanding of this subject is to do no harm. I understand taking people off life support and allowing them to succumb to their natural course. I’ve made similar decisions for my own family and those moments, can be very trying. Since my brother and I are both medical people, we didn’t have to argue much and we’ve often talked about these decisions before as a family. That certainly helped me make the right choices.
However, I don’t understand starving terminally ill people, sedating them till they’re dead. I can barely reconcile the idea in my mind.
There’s also the thin line of who gets “killed off” and who gets saved? Terminally ill, cancer patients, mentally ill? There’s a long list of people who now want this right to die. Do we give in to all of them?
Psychiatrists have pointed out that mentally ill people who do want suicide change their minds with modified psychoanalytic therapy change and go on to do very well in life. Our main goal should remain, “Do no harm.”
Solutions
-End of life directives: You need to have a medical health care directive or will on file for patients, identifying what they want done.
-Talk about death with your patients: Memento Mori. As difficult as this may be, talk about death with patients. Identify what end of life care and decisions they want.
-Identify what end of life care means and the definition of euthanasia. I’ve seen varying definitions. Now, the current trend is to say we want to ease people’s suffering. How do we define suffering? Is a person who’s depressed suffering less than someone who has cancer? Is there a hierarchy of suffering where people on top get killed off first? How do we know?
-Identify where you stand on the subject. If a situation arises, are you prepared mentally? Do you have a flowchart of what to do, whom to contact and refer to when this happens?
-Know the law and stay in touch with your lawyer. It’s always good to have a lawyer in connection with your practice and discuss these situations before hand. Talk about what the law requires you to do and what the law recommends but doesn’t enforce. Follow the debate closely.
What is your stance on physician assisted suicide? And what do you suggest we do in the future?