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Physician-Assisted Suicide: Misguided Compassion
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Euthanasia ...By Fr. Joseph Howard
If we ask most people whether or not they are in favor of assisted suicide, most will say that they are. What they mean by this is that they would rather die painlessly than painfully. Today many people fear that they may have to die in unbearable pain. Some fear that they will no longer be able to care for themselves. Others fear that they will not be able to enjoy their remaining time in a meaningful manner with their friends and family members. Let’s examine these issue with the help of an expert: Dr. Kathleen Foley, MD. Foley is recognized as the most eminent pain specialist in the world.
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The Hemlock Society and Compassion in Dying are groups that promote assisted suicide as a compassionate practice. Yet, the fact is that assisted suicide is an uncompassionate practice one could perform upon another human person. We know that almost all of those patients who request assisted suicide are suffering from serious clinical depression that more often than not goes unrecognized and hence undiagnosed. It has been shown that many patients, as well as their families and doctors are unaware that no person has to die in unbearable pain. While it is true that many physicians are not adequately trained in pain management, Dr. Foley points out that we need to offer better and specialized training to medical students, residents, and attending physicians so that they can effectively manage pain during the dying process.
Dr. Foley found that data from both cancer and AIDS patients suggest that uncontrolled pain contributes to depression and that persistent pain interferes with patient’s ability to receive support from their families and other persons. We have to educate ourselves to understand that adequate pain management is available in all diseases - including diseases such as breast cancer and Lou Gehrig’s disease. We must continue to emphasize the distinction between killing a person and letting him die naturally - they are not the same!
It is imperative to repeat that when the pain and panic of a patient is addressed. The patient dies in a state of unacknowledged terror. What has been observed in the Netherlands where assisted suicide is legal mirrors the same reality as what occurs in the state of Oregon where the same practice is also legal: legal sanction of assisted suicide empowers physicians and not patients or their families. Physicians who often suggest death, do not present obvious alternatives, and ignore a patient’s ambivalence and even put patients to death who have not requested them to do so. Vulnerable individuals, elderly persons, the uninsured minorities, and the disenfranchised are particularly at risk. It is critical that we recognize assisted suicide as lacking all compassion. True compassion addresses the essential issues of pain management as well underlying factors such as depression. True compassion allows a person to have effective pain management and to spend their last days in a meaningful manner with their families and friends. True compassion is rooted in respect for the dignity of the person at risk.
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