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| Alex Schadenberg |
Executive Director,
Euthanasia Prevention Coalition
I received a message asking me:
I received a message asking me:
Do you oppose a peaceful end to life?The message assumed that I lack compassion by stating:
You'd rather see your loved one suffer in unimaginable pain and agony, by blocking their decision for a peaceful exit?The message ended by expressing his pain:
I just hope that you never have to experience a loved one suffering as I have.Yes, I oppose killing people and I don't want people to suffer.
The death lobby creates a false dichotomy. They want you to believe that there are two choices, to suffer to death or be killed.
Medicine has the ability to relieve pain and symptoms without killing people. We urge the medical system to make the relief of suffering a priority. (Article Link).
It is easier to attack me for being opposed to killing people than it is to challenge the medical system for not providing effective pain and symptom relief. Nonetheless:
Medicine has the ability to relieve pain and symptoms without killing people. We urge the medical system to make the relief of suffering a priority. (Article Link).
It is easier to attack me for being opposed to killing people than it is to challenge the medical system for not providing effective pain and symptom relief. Nonetheless:
- Yes, the improvement of good end-of-life care is a necessity, but
- Yes, euthanasia is discriminatory towards people with disabilities,
- Yes, euthanasia is the abandonment of people in need, and more.
Legalizing euthanasia has greater societal effects.
Legalizing euthanasia effects attitudes towards people with disabilities, elderly frail people and people living with chronic conditions. (Links to Article 1, Article 2, Article 3, Article 4)
As much as I oppose killing people, it is also not safe to give medical practitioner the right in law to kill their patients.
When a person asks a medical practitioner to end their life, that person may or may not be living with a terminal condition. But if the medical practitioner agrees to euthanasia, the doctor is actually saying that he/she agrees that your life is not worth living.
The doctor is also saying you are not worth treating, you are not worth providing excellent pain and symptom management for, you are not worth the time and effort to care for you.
As much as I oppose killing people, it is also not safe to give medical practitioner the right in law to kill their patients.
When a person asks a medical practitioner to end their life, that person may or may not be living with a terminal condition. But if the medical practitioner agrees to euthanasia, the doctor is actually saying that he/she agrees that your life is not worth living.
The doctor is also saying you are not worth treating, you are not worth providing excellent pain and symptom management for, you are not worth the time and effort to care for you.
They say it is about choice, but really it is about abandonment.
Why are people asking to be killed?
Most people who ask to be killed are living with a difficult physical and/or psychological condition. They often:
Why are people asking to be killed?
Most people who ask to be killed are living with a difficult physical and/or psychological condition. They often:
- feel alone and are lonely,
- fear possible future pain and symptoms,
- fear being a burden on others,
- feel that their life has lost meaning or value,
- feel that they are better off dead.
There are a lot of valid reasons to oppose euthanasia that are not included in this article, but it primarily comes down to opposing the killing of people.
2 comments:
Amen!
Here are my thoughts:
How much suffering is too much? The PAS advocate always leads with the hard case: intractable pain, no one (or not enough) people & resources for care – but as you say, as time goes on, the number of these hard cases is becoming smaller and smaller.
But what about the “double suicides” of couples in the Netherlands? The anorexics who’ve been killed in Colorado? Philip Nitschke’s previous suggestion of suicide on demand for “troubled teens”? And of course, the Groningen Protocol to end what we perceive as a life of suffering of a disabled or Down Syndrome infant?
How much suffering qualifies? How is that measured? Having been a family caregiver for the past couple decades, I’ve learned coping skills and how to marshal resources; if others don’t know what I know, they might be completely overwhelmed by what I face every day.
What level or type of suffering gives us the right to completely throw it over & away from us – and our life along with it? Advertising and consumer culture have trained our minds to think that any amount of suffering is too much and must be immediately cured by a product (that just happens to be available for purchase – on sale! Etc.).
But, does that correspond with reality? The human neurological instinct of “avoid pain” seems to have developed into ‘you must avoid all suffering’, ‘you can avoid all suffering’, (“come this way…”), ‘suffering is meaningless and must be escaped’, ‘if you’re suffering you can’t join the Party Crowd/Pepsi Generation’, ‘no one likes to be around suffering people’, ‘no one loves you that much and you’ll be totally alone’, ‘you don’t deserve to suffer’, ‘it’s not fair for you to suffer’, ‘you’re too good to suffer’, ‘you deserve not to suffer, ever’. The human biological survival reaction has been turned into an abstract philosophical principle to live one’s life by.
The Christian proposal, in contrast, remains in correspondence with the reality we experience in nature and society; things can get bad, but with help, we can get through it. Also, looking with a Christian lens on the world (and on our experience) presents us with a provocative idea:
Whereas, Jesus Christ suffered a (literally) excruciating death on humanity’s behalf to alleviate the greatest possible physical/mental suffering in the universe (i.e., going to hell); and
Whereas, Jesus Christ promised his followers that he would never leave them (e.g. “Lo, I am always with you”, “I will not leave you as orphans, I will come to you”); and
Whereas, sound Christian theology locates the continued presence, power, and love of Jesus Christ in the contemporary Christian community;
Therefore, on the basis of his actions and continued presence with all who suffer in any way, we can hypothesize: For a Christian, there is no such thing as unbearable suffering. That is, of course, if life has the meaning which the Christian tradition proposes, which is Love.
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