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12/4/08 Judge Dorothy McCarter of Helena issued a ruling in favor of a terminally ill patient pursuing physician-prescribed suicide; he died before he knew the ruling. A classic example of legislating from the bench, her decision trumped Montana’s criminal law and its “Rights of the Terminally Ill Act” that penalize assisted suicide as a crime. The Legislature, not the court, has the constitutional right to change these. Representative Dick Barrett, D-Missoula hopes to make the right to physician-assisted suicide state law in 2009.
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Supporters of the legal right to suicide seeking to remove suffering and support individual self-determination, deem it wrong to oppose that right since nobody has a right to impose morals on anybody else. The fact is, all lawmaking imposes morality, since all laws declare one behavior right and another wrong. Whether a law supports or opposes suicide, it imposes morality.
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Laws supporting suicide impose the morality that the supreme value is freedom of choice. If there is no authority higher than the individual, we have the right to kill ourselves. If the supreme value, instead of personal freedom, is the right to life given by God, a person doesn't have the moral authority to take his own life. The question, therefore, over whose morality to impose, is based on beliefs about the origin of life. Our country was founded on the view that life comes from God, as the Declaration of Independence asserts and is supported by Constitutional Amendments and laws throughout our nation's history opposing the right to suicide. The US Supreme Court in a unanimous 1997 opinion rejected the claim that assisted suicide is a constitutional right. Furthermore, suicide as an act of freedom destroys that individual’s freedom. The dead have no freedom.
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Other arguments for and against physician assisted suicide and euthanasia:
1) Argument for: It removes suffering. Argument against: This argument assumes there is no value in suffering and that is not true. Suffering can draw a person closer to their Creator; it can purify our priorities. Some virtues--such as courage and perseverance--can only be developed and expressed through difficult times. Suffering often serves as a source of inspiration, with countless examples of individuals who could not have made nearly the positive impact on the world if not for their debilities. Furthermore, it is wrong to assume that death ends suffering--the vast majority believe in an afterlife with the possibility of eternal suffering for poor life choices. Besides, medical practitioners currently have the ability to alleviate most pain. |
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2) It violates the Hippocratic Oath.
For nearly 2500 years the Oath functioned as a kind of "moral law" of medicine. Its underlying message is, "First, do no harm." It has helped build respect and trust in the medical profession. This trust will be severely eroded if euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide are legalized, especially in the area of terminal care. Physician intentions would become particularly questionable if the patient is a financial burden to the state, with death an easier and cheaper option. The American Medical Association presently opposes physician-assisted suicide. |
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3) The choice for suicide may not be fully informed, and it may be coerced. If suicide becomes a legal option, some terminally ill patients will feel pressured to remove themselves because they are a financial and emotional burden. Legalized suicide makes it more difficult to protect from suicidal impulses those that are depressed, mentally ill, suffering from untreated pain or feeling like a burden.
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4) Legalization of suicide devalues life and undermines our sense of responsibility, love, and sacrifice for others. Laws help advance and protect what a society values. Humans are inconvenient at both ends of their lives and when ill. We are valuable because we are human, not because we are healthy and convenient.
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The arguments for suicide overlook a truth considered self-evident in our nation's founding document: We don't owe our lives to ourselves. Our rights are not given to us by any government or individual (including ourselves). Life is a gift from our Creator that is not ours to destroy. What we owe the dying and depressed is not a seductively efficient death, but loving support for the remainder of their lives.
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Laws are a reflection of a society's values, and also advance and protect those values. Since we need laws and laws inevitably impose morality, it seems prudent to promote laws that are based on uncompromised reverence for the core dignity and worth of each human person. We need to emphatically oppose anything that devalues human life, its Creator, and our responsibility to serve God and others. Hopefully, the majority of Montana’s legislators understand that to do otherwise is to teeter on the edge of self-destruction, and they will oppose suicide promoting legislation in 2009.
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| Dr. Annie Bukacek MD |