{"id":108,"date":"2011-07-03T12:55:00","date_gmt":"2011-07-03T12:55:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lidaprypchan.org\/?p=108"},"modified":"2015-07-19T21:35:48","modified_gmt":"2015-07-19T21:35:48","slug":"euthanasia-the-right-to-die-with-dignity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lidaprypchan.org\/?p=108","title":{"rendered":"EUTHANASIA, THE RIGHT TO DIE WITH DIGNITY"},"content":{"rendered":"
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By Lida Prypchan<\/b><\/span><\/div>\n
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I<\/span><\/div>\n
Death is sometimes a punishment, sometimes an honor, but for some it is a favor. (Seneca)<\/span><\/div>\n
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Here are two examples of euthanasia: 1. A man, bedridden lies in extreme agony. \u00a0His death is imminent! \u00a0Is it a human right to opt for a quick, painless death instead of a slow, painful one? 2. \u00a0A man is kept alive with artificial respirators. \u00a0The autopsy shows that his brain died several days before his heart. \u00a0Would it be murder to disconnect the artificial respirators? \u00a0Is it his life that\u2019s being prolonged here, or is it his death?<\/span><\/div>\n
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The precise moment for reasonable vagueness: \u00a0Euthanasia, a term coined by English philosopher and politician Francis Bacon (1561-1626), means \u201cdeath induced painlessly by appropriate methods.\u201d \u00a0The implication of the term is indeed vague, but reasonably so. \u00a0Proof of such claim is that euthanasia has also been called mercy killing. \u00a0This juxtaposition of apparent opposites explains the vagueness.\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n
Killing generally implies \u201cdeath carried out illegally and violently.\u201d In contrast, mercy implies \u201ctenderness, respect and compassion.\u201d \u00a0To kill is a crime, but to be merciful is an act of kindness. \u00a0There appears to be a disturbing and hopeless confrontation between good and evil. Those who support the legalization of euthanasia or mercy killing and those who oppose it, lose days and years arguing about it. \u00a0Proponents of the procedure say, \u201cFor us, the principle of the matter is to induce death with the \u2018laudable\u2019 intent of helping an individual avoid the unnecessary suffering resulting from a debilitating disease or escape an artificial respirator or some other apparatus that keeps him alive in this world as a mere vegetable \u2013 a living corpse \u2013 and doesn\u2019t allow him to derive either pleasure or satisfaction from life. \u00a0We could summarize our justification in just one word: compassion.\u201d In response, those who oppose the legalization of euthanasia say, \u201cNothing you\u2019ve just said changes the fact that we think the procedure is a crime and we have come to the conclusion that what you call \u2018laudable intent\u2019 is not so laudable that it doesn\u2019t deserve to be called \u2018criminal\u2019!\u201d<\/span><\/div>\n
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The two types of mercy killing: In the case of a patient who is medically deemed a vegetable and kept alive artificially by a respirator, is there a moral difference between failing to initiate artificial respiration and stopping it once it has been started? \u00a0Here we should point out that there are two types of euthanasia, passive and active. \u00a0The first is when death results from the omission of acts intended to prolong life. \u00a0The second is the deliberate application of measures intended to produce death.\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n
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Why does this issue present so many problems and cause such controversy? \u00a0Because the most powerful sectors of society are involved in the matter: the Law, the Church, the Health Care System and the people who are close to the person dying, namely, the family members.<\/span><\/div>\n
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A final picture: \u00a0Here, if I could, I would paint the following picture of a human being on the verge of death. \u00a0At one corner of the bed I would place the doctor with the member of the family, at another corner a representative of justice, at another corner a priest, and in the remaining corner a serene and immutable lady named Death, who awaits the dying person.<\/span><\/div>\n
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II<\/span><\/div>\n
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Let me not beg for my pain to be eased, but rather that I should have the courage to bear it. \u00a0Let me not be cowardly, rather, let me feel your hand strengthening me in my failure. \u00a0(Rabindranath Tagore)<\/span><\/div>\n
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Euthanasia is the voluntary termination of the life of a person who requests it, because he is otherwise obliged to endure extreme suffering caused by debilitating disease.<\/span><\/div>\n
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The Euthanasia Society was founded in England in 1935. \u00a0Historical facts exist, however, to prove that euthanasia was practiced long before that. \u00a0In Sparta deformed children used to be sacrificed. \u00a0The Bretons would kill individuals with incurable diseases and the Hindus drowned them in the Ganges. \u00a0Plato commended disciplinary procedures for protecting those who were sound of body and mind, believing that those who weren\u2019t should be left to die. \u00a0We mustn\u2019t forget Hitler either, who established a new type of euthanasia, based on eugenics and economics. \u00a0On September 1, 1939, Hitler issued a diabolical decree \u2013 as was everything emanating from him \u2013 in which he exhorted \u201cthorough\u201d medical examination (i.e., of their Hebrew name or appearance), were declared incurable. \u00a0He thereby wiped millions of innocent lives off the map. \u00a0This type of euthanasia is an improper application of the procedure, since it presents an unscrupulous regime with an outwardly legal way to dispose of its opponents.<\/span><\/div>\n
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The euthanasia drama: \u00a0Some people refer to it as \u201cthe euthanasia drama\u201d because of cases that have moved public opinion, where the criminal act was perpetrated by relatives or persons close to the patient who, dispensing with ethical dogma and with no intent other than the desire to put an end to the pain of loved ones, performed dreadful acts. \u00a0Such cases have occurred in other countries, not Venezuela. \u00a0I will cite just one of them. \u00a0\u201cIn 1950, a twenty-one year old American student shot his father, who was bedridden with an advanced cancer.\u201d \u00a0In this and other cases, the judges were lenient.<\/span><\/div>\n
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The law and euthanasia: \u00a0In traditional doctrine, express admissions of the impunity of euthanasia are decidedly in the minority. \u00a0The majority of penal codes adopt a neutral position regarding this issue, granting special extenuation in cases of mercy killing, without actually legitimizing or justifying the act.<\/span><\/div>\n
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I don\u2019t know if it is fear of the unknown, or fear of revolutionizing what has already been decided and established. \u00a0What is certain is that all this indecision causes suffering for a human being who sooner or later must die, in the shackles of a terminal illness.<\/span><\/div>\n
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If we are to agree about anything, it is that scientific advances have abruptly and unexpectedly forced man to acknowledge that the central problem of modern medicine is of a moral nature.\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n
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What irony! \u00a0We are victims of that monster known as progress!<\/span><\/div>\n
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III<\/span><\/div>\n
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Never before has man been so alone during his last hours as today, shut away in some room with his pain, his fear of death and his need for human affection. \u00a0(Kschocke)<\/span><\/div>\n
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The legalization of euthanasia is for the moment unlikely, even impossible, since for each opinion in its favor there are fourteen against.<\/span><\/div>\n
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\u201cPoor unfortunate man!\u201d Those who oppose such legalization raise their voices saying, \u201cLegalized euthanasia isn\u2019t necessary because, with the discovery of sedatives, analgesics, hypnotics and anesthetics, pain and other discomforts can be kept within a tolerable limit. \u00a0No competent doctor lets his patients die in agony.\u201d \u00a0Those on the other side reply, \u201cBut you forget a very important factor that should be considered \u2013 poverty. \u00a0Don\u2019t you think that there are very few people who can afford the luxury of easing their pain with all the latest medications? \u2013 And that very few people are fortunate enough to receive care in hospitals set up to ensure that the terminally ill spend their last days in comfort? \u00a0Are these hospitals accessible to the general public? \u00a0And, talking of pain, we\u2019d like to tell you that although we\u2019ve taken great strides toward conquering it, our conquest is nowhere near complete!\u201d<\/span><\/div>\n
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\u201cPoor unfortunate man!\u201d isn\u2019t the title of a popular song. \u00a0No, it\u2019s an expression that encapsulates a social tragedy. \u00a0There is not enough room in our hospitals for the current demand upon the Public Health System. \u00a0Consequently, not everyone can have his medical needs care for. \u00a0It\u2019s also very sad to see only one seriously ill patient admitted when two arrive at the same time – perhaps the youngest, or maybe the one with the better chance of survival. \u00a0This is what Dr. Efrain Zukerman calls \u201csocial euthanasia\u201d. \u00a0Father Rivolta, an equally learned and capable man, calls it a social crime or \u201cwar on the poor\u201d.<\/span><\/div>\n
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The length of life and God: \u00a0Some oppose euthanasia because they believe that length of life is predestined by God and we cannot interfere with His decision. \u00a0I am among those who feel that every opinion deserves respect, whatever it may be. \u00a0Using this as a starting point and even accepting the principle that our lives are predestined by God, we should also consider that to postpone death by medical or surgical procedures would be to interfere in God\u2019s plan. \u00a0After all, God gave man free will!<\/span><\/div>\n
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Conclusion: \u00a0We can draw three conclusions from all of the foregoing: 1. Medical progress has made the act of dying more traumatic for the patient, as well as for his family members and society; 2. Advances in ethical maturity have not kept pace with technical progress; 3. Euthanasia is a subject upon which we should all deeply reflect, since it is an ethical dilemma somewhat ironically, \u201cHow hard it is to die with dignity!\u201d<\/span><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a0 By Lida Prypchan \u00a0 I Death is sometimes a punishment, sometimes an honor, but for some it is a favor. (Seneca) \u00a0 Here are two examples of euthanasia: 1. A man, bedridden lies in extreme agony. \u00a0His death is imminent! \u00a0Is it a human right to opt for a quick, painless death instead of … <\/p>\n

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