This lesson will focus on the biggest end of life sin, euthanasia. While it may seem like a “gentle” and humane way of ending ones life, it is actually a dangerous road to follow. To end someone’s life on purpose, for whatever the reason, shows a lack of respect and dignity for God’s creation.
What is euthanasia? It “consists in putting an end to the lives of handicapped, sick, or dying persons. It is morally unacceptable.”[i] It is important to point out that the Church is not against those who are dying and refuse to take “aggressive medical treatment”.
What is the Church’s stance on euthanasia? “Taking into account these distinctions, in harmony with the Magisterium of my Predecessors and in communion with the Bishops of the Catholic Church, I confirm that euthanasia is a grave violation of the law of God, since it is the deliberate and morally unacceptable killing of a human person. This doctrine is based upon the natural law and upon the written word of God, is transmitted by the Church’s Tradition and taught by the ordinary and universal Magisterium.[ii]”[iii] The ordinary and universal magisterium is the teaching of all the bishops (including the Bishop of Rome, the Pope) in unison. The teaching is infallible, or without error.
Why is the Catholic Church against euthanasia? Actively participating in the euthanasia process is the direct killing of a human being, and thus breaking the fifth commandment, “Thou shall not kill”. The Church has always defended the dignity and sanctity of all human life, no matter the handicap or disability. “Those whose lives are diminished or weakened deserve special respect. Sick or handicapped persons should be helped to lead lives as normal as possible.”[iv]
What if the person is dying and wants to die? As mentioned earlier, if a person is in the process of dying, they can refuse extra “aggressive” treatment, such as a “do not resuscitate” order (i.e. using shocking paddles, C.P.R., Life Support, etc.). “Discontinuing medical procedures that are burdensome, dangerous, extraordinary, or disproportionate to the expected outcome can be legitimate; it is the refusal of ‘over-zealous’ treatment. Here one does not will to cause death; one’s inability to impede it is merely accepted. The decisions should be made by the patient if he is competent and able or, if not, by those legally entitled to act for the patient, whose reasonable will and legitimate interests must always, be respected.”[v]
But what if the person is in great pain and dying? The use of drugs to relieve pain by narcotics is permissible, even if the result is a decrease in consciousness and a shortening of life is okay. While uniting one’s suffering can bring about great graces, it is permissible to relieve one’s pains through drugs. This is because the will is not to kill the person, but to help ease the pain. Blessed Pope John Paul II and Pope Pius XII affirmed this when saying, “’if no other means exist, and if, in the given circumstances, this does not prevent the carrying out of other religious and moral duties.[vi]’ In such a case, death is not willed or sought, even though for reasonable motives one runs the risk of it: there is simply a desire to ease pain effectively by using the analgesics which medicine provides.”[vii]
What if they are on life support? In the case of life support, if the life support is keeping the person alive and they could not live without it, then the person can be removed from life support. Life support can be seen as an “aggressive” measure. If someone is in a coma or a state of unconscious, but is still living, then they deserve basic necessities such as food and water. This is the case of Terri Schiavo, who had severe brain damage, but was not brain-dead. She may have been in a “vegetative state”, but was not dying, and thus deserved all basic care and the necessities, which her ex-husband was trying to remove (her feeding tube). “Even our brothers and sisters who find themselves in the clinical condition of a ‘vegetative state’ retain their human dignity in all its fullness… The loving gaze of God the Father continues to fall upon them, acknowledging them as his sons and daughters, especially in need of help…the value of a man’s life cannot be made subordinate to any judgment of its quality expressed by other men.”[viii] If someone is in the process of dying, they can refuse to have their feeding tube removed as well as refuse extraordinary means, but these means cannot be refused if the person is in stable condition (i.e. not dying).
VIDEO – “The Terri Schiavo Story”
What’s the big deal if someone wants to die? Deciding who lives and who dies can be very dangerous. We see over the course of history that those who are not “productive to society” can be easily seen as a waste of space and be terminated. Before World War II, Hitler started killing handicapped people. The action was called “Action T4”, and tens of thousands were killed because they were seen as “mercy killings”. This was thought to “cleanse” the races and any “deficiencies”. We see that soon after, Hitler carried this over to the Jews, Poles and anyone else, who stood against him. Once you start down the road of who “deserves” to die, as we see with the Holocaust, it can lead to a horrible end.
If a person wants to kill themselves near the end of their life, they see themselves as “their own rule and measure”[ix] and see themselves as God. We begin to see life as a person’s productivity or senseless value, as compared to seeing the value and worth we all have in the eyes of God.
“Today, as a result of advances in medicine and in a cultural context frequently closed to the transcendent, the experience of dying is marked by new features. When the prevailing tendency is to value life only to the extent that it brings pleasure and well-being, suffering seems like an unbearable setback, something from which one must be freed at all costs.”[x] We all deserve to die with dignity.
President Bush said it beautifully; “Pope John Paul II left the throne of St. Peter in the same way he ascended to it -- as a witness to the dignity of human life. In his native Poland, that witness launched a democratic revolution that swept Eastern Europe and changed the course of history. Throughout the West, John Paul's witness reminded us of our obligation to build a culture of life in which the strong protect the weak. And during the Pope's final years, his witness was made even more powerful by his daily courage in the face of illness and great suffering.”
The Church teaches that there is redemptive value in the suffering. In our own suffering we unite in the suffering of Christ for the salvation of our soul and the souls of the whole world. Jesus did not suffer so that we would not have to. Jesus suffered to show us how to suffer with dignity. Jesus teaches us how to deal with the mystery of suffering and the redemptive value of suffering. We do not look for suffering or bring suffering upon our self, but we do embrace suffering and suffer with dignity when it comes our way.
[i] CCC 2277
[ii] Cf. Second Vatican Ecumenical Council, Dogmatic Constitution on the Church Lumen Gentium, 25.
[iii] Bl. John Paul II, Evangelium Vitae 65.4
[iv] CCC 2276
[v] CCC 2278
[vi] Pius XII, Address to an International Group of Physicians (February 24, 1957)
[vii] Bl. John Paul II, Evangelium Vitae 65.3
[viii] Pope John Paul II – March 20, 2004
[ix] Bl. John Paul II, Evangelium Vitae 65.2
[x] Bl. John Paul II, Evangelium Vitae 65.1