Knights of St Columba (486) forum

inchcolm · Posted: Sat Apr 18, 2009 9:30 pm Post subject: Assisted Suicide

Lord Joffe’s Assisted Dying for the terminally ill bill receives its second hearing in May. The bill is aimed at helping those who are terminally ill, who will die within six months, who are mentally competent, in unbearable pain and have persistently requested help to die. If passed, it will allow doctors under these conditions and with so called 20 additional safeguards to help patients commit suicide.

Once again our Christian values are under attack and we as Knights must unite and condemn any attempt to introduce such legislation. The Government and politicians rely on many factors and at this moment in time “Christian values” are not included. However Governments and politicians rely on votes. If we want politicians to take us seriously we need to show them that the Christian faith can influence the electoral behaviour of a significant number of voters and has the ability to shape the agenda on which an election can be won. We must contact our MP and inform him or her of our Christian beliefs and strong repulsion at the proposed legislation. However I fear that informing them that the proposed legalisation contradicts Gods law may fall on deaf ears. Therefore what line of reasoning could they possibly listen to?

In this country we have been made to believe that if we change the name of something that is deemed appalling, it will be accepted: ‘Abortion’ is called ‘Termination’ and we now learn that ‘Assisted Suicide’ will be called ‘dying with dignity.’

In former years, terminally ill patients, who were close to death, were regularly discarded to side wards, devoid of effective pain relief and many experienced dreadful deaths. Today, this is not the case, there are state-of-the-art hospices and Palliative medicine which prevents and relieves suffering and improves the quality of life of patients with terminal illnesses. It is understood that this care has transformed the way patient care and pain is managed.

Looking after the dying is more than treating the physical characteristics of their illness. Care is also about tackling the suffering these patients endure, their distress at losing control of their lives, their failing strength, a loss of self-worth and feelings of having to be dependent on others. It is bringing care to the patient when they are at their most vulnerable. These are the aims of palliative care.

Those who support the proposals to allow “assisted suicide” surely believe in utopia, a world in which all terminally ill patients judgments are not impaired and can clearly make life-or-death decisions based totally on reason and more importantly, that doctors have the skill, ability and most of all the will, to assess their requests for death.

A very small number of terminally ill patient’s judgments may be unimpaired about wanting to die by the means of assisted suicide. However there is a great majority who do not have a clear mind. This majority will suffer depression throughout the duration of their terminal illness and will ebb and flow from despair to hope. Many will have feelings of guilt and believe they are a burden, on their families and society. These become hidden pressures on the patient when deciding if assisted suicide is an option or not.

Making assisted suicide an end of life “choice” may sound harmless enough, but one patient's choice can easily become another's risk. A balance has to be struck in meeting the wishes of a resolute minority who say that they want to hasten their deaths, against the risks of harm to most patients who want to live, but they will feel vulnerable wondering if ending their own life might be preferable to dying of their illness.

Baroness Finlay of Llandaff, an independent peer, and Professor of Palliative Medicine at Cardiff University in The Times April 1, 2009 stated :

“I have come across instances in which an apparently firm resolve to die proves nothing of the sort. In 1991 a young man, a father of three children, was crystal clear in his repeated request to me for euthanasia. His clinical outlook was bleak. Against all predictions, he did not die. Eleven years later his wife died, leaving him to bring up their three children.”

In 2002 my father was in bed, at times in overwhelming pain, neither he nor I wanted to end his life. He was given 9 months to live but through the help of drugs and the assistance of Marie Curie Staff he survived for 18months. He lived independently at home despite his cancer and his life and my families lives were deeply enriched by the experience.

I am informed that doctors who care for terminally ill people sometimes have the subject of assisted suicide raised by patients. In most cases they want assurance that they would not be abandoned and would have care which maintains their dignity and addresses their deepest fears. If doctors react by setting in motion their request for assisted suicide, they are stating that the patient would be better off dead. The patients rely on our doctors to act at all times in their best interests at all times. That without question gives them some influence over the choices the patient makes. It is no surprise therefore, that the most recent survey of medical opinion has confirmed that most doctors do not believe that “assisted suicide” is something they believe agrees with the ethics of good medicine.

We are told that there will be “safeguards”, but, it is clear from experiences in other countries, that people applying for assisted suicide do get through the net when they should never have been considered.

This country abolished capital punishment 40 years ago. Why? Occasionally, the wrong person was put to death. It was agreed that if one innocent person was killed, it was one too many. An assisted dying law makes the risk of mistakes much greater.

The introduction of assisted suicide could bring pressure on the patient, their families and medical staff.

What will be the criteria for allowing assisted suicide?

(A) The length of time the patient has to live - Nobody can say for certain how long a person has to live; my father is an example.

(B) The amount of pain a patient is in - How can anyone quantify pain? People have different pain thresholds; therefore, it is impossible to set a standard, as what may be bearable for some, is not for others.

(C) An individual’s idea of what is an acceptable lifestyle - An example is the unfortunate case of David James who was paralysed by an injury he sustained while playing rugby. This is a very dangerous road to go down. When would a child born with an incapacitating disability have the ability to request assisted suicide?

Assisted suicide should not be legalised. It will put undue pressure on the terminally ill, the medical profession, carers and families. No one can state in all certainty where the boundaries begin and end? God alone has the authority to make the decision who lives and dies?

John Brennan

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JP Brennan

Charlie396 · Joined: 01 Sep 2008 Posts: 18 Location: Council 396 Glasgow

Assisted suicide ‘dangerous’ claim

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Proposals to legalise assisted suicide were today branded "dangerous and unnecessary" by a medical ethics body.

Independent MSP Margo MacDonald's Bill would change the way death and disability are viewed by society, according to the Scottish Council on Human Bioethics.

"Assisted dying is unnecessary because physical suffering can be adequately alleviated in all but the most rare cases," the council said in a statement today.

advertisementDirector of research Dr Callum MacKellar today said that "appropriate palliative care" can help address this.

The statement also says assisted dying is "dangerous" because it will change views on death and disability and mean Scottish society accepts - for the first time - that some lives are no longer worth living.

The Lothians MSP needs at least 18 MSPs' support to bring her proposed End Of Life Choices (Scotland) Bill before Holyrood.

The proposed law allows people with a progressive degenerative condition, those who have been left dependent on others following a trauma, and those with a terminal illness and for whom life has become intolerable to seek a doctor's help in dying.

More hope that the Bill will not get the support in Hollyrood but we must continue to be vigilant and I urge all Scottish Knights friends and Families to contact their MSPs on this at the Scottish Goverment Web-site