The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops released a directive in November that bans any Catholic hospital, nursing home or hospice program from removing feeding tubes or ending palliative procedures of any kind, even when the individual has an advance directive to guide their end-of-life care. Their reasoning includes a statement that patient suffering is redemptive and brings the individual closer to Christ.
Let’s be clear about that: The Conference of Bishops believes that even if you have said clearly that you do not wish to be kept alive, if you are in a Catholic hospital, the staff cannot carry out your wishes, because it’s more important that you become redeemed. In other words, they do care whether you suffer after all … in fact, they actively want you to.
You can read more at David Dryden’s excellent article, Catholic Bishops Enact Plan For 300,000 Terri Schiavos.
Dr. Raymond Tallis of the U.K. writes a wonderful essay on the reasons he has come around to the idea that physician-assisted death should be legalized in his home country. He speaks eloquently but practically on the incorrect assumptions he once held regarding universal palliative care, patient-physician levels of trust, and the oft-quoted “can of worms” argument that believes death with dignity may result in widespread euthanasia of the disenfranchised.
In fact, as Dr. Tallis points out, “A very detailed analysis of the data in Oregon has shown that there is an under-representation of those groups and an over-representation of comparatively well-off, middle-class white people — feisty characters who are used to getting their own way.”
I believe this is a necessary read for anyone currently on the fence with regards to the right to die. Read the article at the Times Online.
I’m going to put in a personal note here, after a fairly long absence.
British novelist Sir Terry Pratchett was one of my father’s favorite authors. In an odd coincidence, he was the first novelist I introduced him to rather than the other way around, with the release in the U.S.A. of The Light Fantastic while I was in high school. Craig took to it with enormous joy, and soon found that he couldn’t read the books on his daily commute – he would be unable to contain his laughter and would bother the other commuters with his howls. Instead, we agreed to read the books at home after dinner, both of us side by side with our own copies of the books and laughing hysterically as friends.
When the full strength of his illness became clear, one of the first things he did was go forth and purchase all the books again – he’d left his copies here in the States with me while he lived in the U.K. The comical fantasies still made him laugh, still brought him joy in the midst of his suffering.
Sir Terry Pratchett was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s Disease some time ago. In August of this year, he spoke the the Daily Mail about his own desire to control his life, and death, with full dignity of the human spirit. In words that brought me greater pride than I can say, he referred to those sick and dying individuals who have accessed the legal suicide clinics of Europe as displaying “a furious sanity.”
“A furious sanity.” I can think of few more fitting epitaphs for Craig Ewert.
Sir Terry, thank you. Thank you for your words, for the bond you helped forge between a mopey adolescent and his father, for the joy you brought to us and the joy you brought to so many. I wish you many, many years of hope and joy ahead; and when the night comes, I wish you the best of all things in your passage through the doors.
You can read the article and Sir Terry’s words online at the Daily Mail, or you may wish to access his own site at http://www.terrypratchett.co.uk.