The Spanish magazine Huellas has published an interview with Sylvie Menard who is one of the most renowned oncologists in Europe. Menard changed her position from supporting euthanasia to now opposing euthanasia in response to her battle with bone cancer.
Menard stated to Huellas that: “those who promote euthanasia do so for two reasons: they don’t want to suffer and they don’t want to lose self-sufficiency, thus becoming a burden for others.”
She agreed that people who are ill “do not want to experience pain” and that “they have a right to alleviate it”. She also emphasized that “pain therapy has advanced considerably in recent years.”
Menard appears to indicate that her new opposition to euthanasia is partially due to a change in her perspective on the dignity of life.
She stated “Even if you do not have complete use of your faculties and you cannot get up because you are confined to bed, but you still have the affection of your family members, in my opinion, even in those conditions, it’s worth it to keep living,”
Dignity is related to how we interact and care for others. People who feel abandoned in their time of need will often feel that they are a burden on others or that their life has become hopeless.
The antidote to the culture of death is a culture that cares for and supports the most vulnerable in their time of need.
The culture that we live in needs a radical shift towards a commitment by society and individuals to care for people and not kill people.
http://www.catholicnewsagency.com:80/new.php?n=12314
http://www.huellas-cl.com
Madrid, Apr 11, 2008 / 03:21 pm (CNA).
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