THE word euthanasia is derived from the Greek word ‘euthanos’ which means a good death. The Webster dictionary says euthanasia is painless killing.
Politicians in England and Ireland will this year vote on whether to allow terminally ill people to end their life. People there are divided whether to vote for or against, and rightly so. I don’t know whether such a bill will ever be filed by our legislators but it is good to know and specify exactly what you mean by euthanasia. Very often people call euthanasia mercy killing.
Obviously, that should not be allowed. It is never allowed to kill somebody, even out of mercy or even in cases of self defense. If somebody attacks you, you may defend yourself but never to the extent of killing him. If in the process he gets killed by accident, then there is nothing wrong.
Some people believe that a terminally ill person should be able to end his own life or has someone to end it for him. This concept is called the ‘right to die’. I believe, a life-prolonging treatment like through an oxygen mask can be discontinued if they so desire. The person himself should express his consent but also the relatives must agree.
If the person is in a coma and the doctor is sure he will never get out of this coma, then I believe the doctor can discontinue the treatment but even then the relatives have to give their consent. Indeed the person has the right to die. In other countries there is also a possibility to file a private members’ bill on assisted dying.
As a Christian we have the obligation to assist a person when he is dying. There are many ways of doing this. If the person is a Catholic you have to call the priest to go to that person. He should hear his confession and give him the sacrament of extreme unction.
When I was still a parish priest and people would bring a dead person to the church for burial, I always asked the people: did you call the priest before he died. Sometimes the people would say: no because we are living very far from the church and we didn’t want to bother you. Then I always said: you should have called me. When people had called for a priest I didn’t let them pay for the funeral services just to encourage them to always call for a priest when somebody in their family is dying.
By experience I know how a dying person feels relieved if he still can make his confession before he dies. A person has the right to have a peaceful death. As far as the doctor is concerned, he has by profession the obligation to cure a patient and to keep him alive.
In Ireland there are people who want to introduce a Private Members’ Bill that is aimed at removing criminal sanctions against a family member or doctor who assists a suicide. To assist somebody to commit suicide is, of course, immoral. You never should help somebody to commit suicide. You must persuade him or even prevent him from committing suicide.
So there are many issues involved in euthanasia. We always have to ask the question: what do you mean by euthanasia and we never should forsake our obligation to assist a person to have a peaceful conscience when he dies.
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[Email: nolvanvugt@gmail.com]