Euthanasia - whose decision should it be?

According to Sarah Boseley, health editor of the Guardian (24 March 2009), “Doctors very rarely help anyone who is terminally ill to die and two-thirds are opposed to changing the law to allow them to do so, new research reveals today.” Whilst I understand that doctors take an oath to save lives, surely the patient’s best interests and wishes should take precedence in extreme cases of endless suffering and despair. I believe the law should be changed to accommodate these exceptions.

As a Christian, I have always believed it wrong to take your own life, no matter what its quality. The Catholic faith strongly believes it to be a mortal sin (the same as murder) to end your own life or to assist someone else to end theirs. However, having seen just how ill some people become, always in pain, living a joyless life, I feel differently now. I can only imagine how it must be; feeling a burden to those who take care of you, knowing there is no hope of recovery or of an ending to the constant pain. It must also be heart breaking for the family members, seeing a loved one suffering and be powerless to help. If you have a terminal illness and have done your utmost to tolerate incessant pain, without any hope of improvement, it is not surprising that you would wish fervently, to feel at peace and for the pain to be gone. Indeed, who can hold up their hand and say with honesty, they would not wish for an end to their suffering, and to be able to die with dignity if they were in such a desperate position? I know I would, without doubt and believe that God would understand.


http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2008/aug/23/euthanasia.cancer