Assisted Suicide

edited December 1969 in Faith Issues
Hello,

How would the CoC view assisted suicides where a terminally ill man/woman wants to die rather than live in pain?

Personally, I feel it is wrong. Not because God gave us life, and we have no authority over it. (Yes, that is true however).

But for the following reason~: We will all go through old age, and with that is suffering. It seems that the only reason that people have assisted suicides is to ease the suffering of those of their immediate families who are taking care of them. But, this means that the carer feels the burden of taking care of the person in need of care than the love they have or receive from the existance of the person being cared for.

But how would the Church view such actions? Does such cases of suicide fall under the category of "unforgivable sin"?

Thanks

Comments

  • I did a paper on assisted suicide, euthanasia, and the Church is totally against it. Christ suffered and died for our sake on the cross, is there any more suffering than that? Or the grief of Saint Mary viewing our Lord on the cross, did she commit suicide? Suicide is suicide. It is still a sin either way.
  • Excellent - well put.

    Was your paper for an academic establishment or for the vatican?

    We live in a secular society. I cannot tell someone "because Christ died for you" - I mean... what if they don't believe in God?
  • Euthanasia is wrong- Christian or not, everyone has morals, and if you don't want to consider it suicide then it is murder, very simply put. Think about it, if I have your consent to kill you, does that make it right? That's why police try to stop people trying committing suicide, because we don't want them to loose their life because of a pain. What about children with HIV/AIDS and Cancer, it isn't their fault ( I am speaking of people born with the disease), they don't go kill themselves. Live with the disease, make the best out of it, it shows that we can overcome anything, all we need is a little faith.
  • [quote author=Hisservant link=topic=7432.msg98200#msg98200 date=1229032931]
    Euthanasia is wrong- Christian or not, everyone has morals, and if you don't want to consider it suicide then it is murder, very simply put. Think about it, if I have your consent to kill you, does that make it right? That's why police try to stop people trying committing suicide, because we don't want them to loose their life because of a pain. What about children with HIV/AIDS and Cancer, it isn't their fault ( I am speaking of people born with the disease), they don't go kill themselves. Live with the disease, make the best out of it, it shows that we can overcome anything, all we need is a little faith.


    Nice. But i want this question to result in something which I can use to debate with NON CHRISTIANS...

    So, if your point of view concludes with statements of "faith", "sin", or hope in God, then they just won't subscribe to it. These are arguments we can offer Christian believers who are contemplating assisted suicide. But for Joe Public, what can we tell him?

    This is a Christian forum, not a chat room, but I believe that if something is wrong for us, then there's a good reason for it.
  • actually its quite simple, look at Christ when he was suffering on the cross. Did he ask for someone to come and help him die? No. he suffered the pain, and went through it all. When God thinks you, and your "carer" have taken enough then he will call you up to heaven. Its only a matter of time untill he takes with him.







    REMEBER ME IN YOUR PRAYERS God bless


  •                                                                              +
    "Coptmorous" put it very well... however, you're looking for something that can be used with non Christians and what i would say is that you may be in pain now but what if you get better later? what if this is short term? you would be potentially taking away your own life? why would anyone want that?

    And here's a story to back this up, my best friend's mom has cancer; when they found out about this it was too late and it has already spread through her body. They gave her 6 months to live... With God's care, its been almost 2 years and she is still alive! she is now in critical care and the doctors gave her 3 days max to live once she got in, and its been longer then 2 months with God being by her side, and she is still alive THANK GOD.

    No one really knows when the end of their life will be, not even doctors, no matter how sick or how much they are suffering!

    God Bless you all
  • I think that there are secular arguments against assisted suicide.

    What begins as a difficult choice made by one person - let us say that is possible, I am not sure that the choice of suicide is ever a sign of rationality - very quickly becomes a choice which is expected and then can become one which is demanded.

    Already in the UK we have senior politicians saying that the elderly should consider assisted suicide so as not to be a burden on their families and the state. And we do not yet have any law allowing assisted suicide. It would be very easy to imagine the pressures put on the family of someone suffering dementia - 'they have no real life, it would be a kindness, they aren't the person you used to know'. Or the family of a person in a coma, or incapacitated - 'they will probably never wake up, they will probably have terrible brain damage, its a kindness'.

    It is a very slippery slope that seems to me would lead quickly to an assumption that people in certain conditions would be helped to slip away, as a kindness.

    The question should be how do we help those who are suffering in such a way that they would consider assisted suicide, not how do we make the choice as easy as possible. There are many sins which go from being a mere thought to an action simply because the ability to act on them is made so easy. This is true in secular terms as much as in Christian. Making this wrong choice as easy as possible will mean that more people make it, and then that it becomes the norm.

    In Christ

    Peter
  • i agree with that.
    btw, there is a lot of medical help that can be given at the end of life, with pain killers etc and in many countries there are people who specialise in these areas.
    if someone is suffering a lot, it is sometimes appropriate to stop giving intensive medical treatment and instead give those treatments that ease the suffering but don't prolong life. (this is nothing like euthanasia which is WRONG, it is switching of the light that does not belong to you).
    the coptic medical society sends money and doctors to places in egypt especially to improve the quality of medical care at the end of life, and i highly recommend them
  • what about 'taking out the plug' if someone is alive only by a hart-lung machine?
    how would you classify that?

    Also, when is a person really dead?

    when they're brain dead (irreversably) or when they've stopped breathing?
  • taking out the plug is not euthanasia. it is generally done very gradually and when everyone is sure there will be no improvement.
    there is a big difference between withdrawing medical treatment and giving a drug to end life. thank God in the uk euthanasia is still illegal, and the difference is clear and the doctors and other medics know what they are doing.
    in my country, all medical treatment is given until the patient (not the family) asks for it to stop, or it can be withdrawn if the patient already signed a paper refusing treatment (called a living will). this is not euthanasia.
    if there is no hope of recovery and the patient or relatives demand treatment, the doctors are not obliged to treat. also people don't get stuck on a ventillator they don't want to be on.
  • [quote author=Godislove260 link=topic=7432.msg99536#msg99536 date=1232474994]
    what about 'taking out the plug' if someone is alive only by a hart-lung machine?
    how would you classify that?

    Also, when is a person really dead?

    when they're brain dead (irreversably) or when they've stopped breathing?


    I agree with mabsoota, I don’t think discontinue life support is considered assisted suicide because the key issue here is the fine line between ending someone’s life due to chronic disease and a patient who is already pronounced brain dead and will not survive without life support.

    The concept of brain death means irreversible cessation of all functions of the entire brain, including the brain stem to sufficiently determine that death has occurred. Few criteria to diagnose brain death are widely accepted in the medical community which include absence of effective respiratory movements in the presence of adequate oxygenation, adequate observation period to guarantee irreversibility; exclusion of reversible factors and use of serial exams or confirmatory tests (eg. EEG, EKG, blood flow studies) to assist in diagnosis in situations of clinical uncertainly.

    Many medical conditions result in brain injury that fail to meet the criteria for brain death but nevertheless is clearly severe enough to leave the patient permanently incapable of satisfactory recovery, these patients are considered to be in vegetative state. I am sure the church don’t support terminating life in such cases but from a legal standpoint a series of court rulings supports the withdrawal of futile therapy must be obtained before discontinue supportive measures.

    No matter how you see it or what you believe, usually underlying disagreement that may arise from religious believes or family members are unlikely to be resolved by physician’s opinion. 
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