New York Democrats, who have huge majorities in the state Legislature, have not only imposed on its citizens the most egregious abortion laws in the nation, they are now on the verge of approving assisted suicide legislation. The bill has been OK'd in the Assembly and is expected to be passed in the state Senate.
I am not at all surprised by the actions of the “Party of Death.” Let’s face it, once the “inalienable right to life” is denied to the unborn, rationalizing, in the name of progress, eliminating the unwell and the unyoung is easy.
Those who support the right to die assume that the right to life is neither natural nor inalienable, and that one has an absolute right to freely and privately assess the value of one’s life and — if the quality of life is not satisfactory — to choose death.
In their judgment life can be unwanted because the person has privately determined that he can no longer achieve, exercise, or enjoy his personal values, or is unhappy with his current state.
Modern champions of suicide (i.e., Jack “Dr. Death” Kevorkian), argue that one must have total control over one’s life, and in times of pain choosing death is virtuous, and should be brought on “sweetly,” “gently,” “softly,” “silently,” and “mechanically.”
Such words and phrases are utilized by assisted suicide proponents in order to soothe and exploit their intended victims. They appear again and again when describing suicide: beautiful, merciful, compassionate, kind, caring, charitable, ethical, honorable, loving, dignified, humanitarian, precious, healing treatment, healing work.
The elimination of New York’s assisted suicide ban would also be an assault on the underlying values of the medical profession.
The physician’s calling is to cure and comfort the patient. Doctors are expected to relieve those forms of suffering that medically accompany serious illness and the threat of death. They should relieve pain, allay anxiety, and be a comforting presence.
To compel a physician to participate in an assisted suicide decision goes beyond his field of expertise. The doctor would be called upon to make moral and philosophical decisions on the value of a person’s life.
Noted scientist-philosopher Leon Kass, believes that putting doctors in the role of physician–euthanizers is oxymoronic. He wonders if one can “benefit the patient as a whole by making him dead? There is, of course, a logical difficulty: How can any good exist for a being that is not? But the error is more logical: to intend and to act as someone’s good requires his continued existence to receive the benefit.”
If the physician is permitted to serve as a public executioner, he can be susceptible to pressures that do not benefit patients. Hospital administrators, government bureaucrats, social workers, and a patient’s relatives and friends could influence a doctor’s decision.
Finances and family pressure could become the basis of life and death decisions, and patients could become the victims of animosity and greed.
If the character of medicine includes killing, the patient may no longer trust the motives of the doctor. The patient may lose all faith in a profession that is not solely dedicated to restoring or maintaining health.
In a May 11, New York Times op-ed titled “The Big Flaw in New York’s Assisted Suicide Bill,” author Dr. L.S. Dugdale appears to agree. This bill, she wrote, “like similar legislation that facilitates dying in places such as Oregon and Canada, is not about dying well. It is about relieving society — government medical systems, even families — of the responsibility to care for those who need the most help: the mentally ill, the poor, the physically disabled.”
If New York assisted suicide legislation becomes law, it will undermine the expectation that the physician’s commitment is always to life, and it would violate the state’s interest to preserve the common good.
In order to live with dignity until the moment of natural death, a chronically ill, disabled or dying person — like any human being — has the right to compassionate, humane, and medically indicated treatment and care. Health officials have an obligation to promote and make accessible proper palliative care.
When it is no longer possible to cure, health officials must be trained to care for the terminally ill.
Patients must also be informed about hospice care. When curative treatments are no longer feasible, hospices focus on making people as comfortable as possible in their final hours.
The New York culture-of-death crowd would have us abandon the sick and elderly. New Yorkers who believe in the inalienable right-to-life should oppose the assisted suicide legislation and promote a culture of compassion — one which ensures that every person lives every moment of his life with dignity.
George J. Marlin, a former executive director of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, is the author of "The American Catholic Voter: Two Hundred Years of Political Impact," and "Christian Persecutions in the Middle East: A 21st Century Tragedy." Read George J. Marlin's Reports — More Here.
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