I do, in fact, criticize those who would check out upon finding they are terminal, without knowing with any certainty what they will endure. I am also dubious about those who hasten to die because they are dependent, especially given the they are soon to die anyway, but I can understand that better. I certainly sympathize with those in practically unendurable pain, who would need a sufficient does of narcotics for relief as to practically lose their personalities, and with those who are pretty sure of the handwriting on the wall, on the way to such a condition. Yet I am not ready to sign up, as it were, and would probably vote against such a measure (assisted suicide) in my own state.
My premise is that society is not there merely to facilitate people's wishes, but is also there to uphold those values without which it would fall into decay. From that standpoint, I am not sure that assisted suicide should be made legal. I am not dead set against it, but I would be loathe to make such a fundamental change without being a good deal surer that it was the right thing.
It is obvious that American society does have some resistance to ratifying the practice, and I was attempting to express some of the reasons for that. I do not think that there is a dogmatic, religious reason in most instances. I think it is because offends may person's sense of propriety to create a situation of "unearned", cosseted checking out. If you want to kill yourself, do it, don't ask a physician to mask the situation by creating the illusion of an ordinary medical procedure. Don't ask your family to swallow their misgivings in order to sit around your bed supportively. I do not want to participate in the suicide of someone I love, such as my mother, as if I wanted her to die. I do not want to put in a hard position of being asked. Who knows, if she were in practically constant pain, I might help her do it, but I do not care to participate if she is just frightened. Most people that I have seen in such situations are in no need of assistance, and can afford to leave the rest of us out of it. The very fact that they insist upon physician participation leads me to question their resolve.
I would prefer not to live in a society where it seemed reasonable, and, gradually, sensible, and, finally, the correct thing to do to hasten death while one is still "dignified", where it starts to seem "medieval" to endure suffering and dependence in order to have a few more months with one's family and one's thoughts. I am pretty sure that what was the patient's option will eventually become the family's expectation, in order not to use up heritable resources and to get it behind them. I fear that what was a right to die will become a duty to die, in order not to perceived as "undignified" and selfish.
I hope you will forgive the forcible expression of my misgivings. |
