By Judie Brown
The intentional act of taking the life of a person used to be quite simply defined as murder or manslaughter, but now there is another category: medical aid in dying (MAiD).
Examining the concept of projecting ahead six months as a determinant of when assisted suicide may be practiced, Dr. Chuck Dinerstein opined, “A humane society can debate whether MAiD belongs within the repertoire of care, but it should not pretend that a physician’s estimate can settle the ethical burden. The more honest path is to treat prognostication as fallible, safeguards as necessary but insufficient, and end-of-life decisions as irreducibly human.”
In other words, it is dangerous to hold fast to any manmade rule when attempting to determine the time at which a suffering person will die. Death is never predictable unless it is imposed. And imposed death is another way of saying intentional killing.
On more than a few occasions, Professor Donald DeMarco has written about the problematic use of words to mask evil intent. He recently wrote,
Life offers us the hope that, despite whatever infirmities assail us, life has not lost meaning. It is not within our power to conclude that we have completed our life. That judgment is left to God alone. As Job so eloquently puts it, “The Lord giveth and the Lord taketh away. Blessed be the name of the Lord.”
In a different way, DeMarco underscores what Dinerstein wrote, clarifying that life begins and ends according to God’s timing (i.e., “It ain’t over till it’s over.”)
This simple wisdom has been lost in the rhetorical sea of man’s desire to take control of everything in his life, from when or if he will bear a child to dying on his own terms. The scenario that negates the wisdom and involvement of God, without whom not a single person would exist, is mindboggling. As Father Denis O’Brien used to say, “When man plays God, man loses.”
If only the world cared for the vulnerable instead of speeding forward to end the lives of more human beings, including the mentally ill who, it is said, desire to die rather than be treated.
This is the opposite of what Mother Angelica wrote when she said that “compassion makes things grow [and] it makes a flower grow out of a garbage heap.”
Compassion does not seek to kill the ailing; it is the balm that visits the sick and the dying, staying with them in their hour of need rather than devising ways to convince them that they are better off dead.
Thinking about matters of death in a society that seems to thrive on the blood of the innocent and the elimination of those who need love rather than detestation, I am reminded of the words of Thomas à Kempis about misery. He wrote in The Imitation of Christ, “Living on earth is truly a misery. The more a man desires spiritual life, the more bitter the present becomes to him, because he understands better and sees more clearly the defects, the corruption of human nature.”
While those around us may never seek the wisdom of God, we do have a moral responsibility to live a life reflective of the love that God has for every person, no matter how uncomfortable it may make us at a given moment. The Lord has placed us here to be His instruments. For that reason, we reject the attitude of those who embrace the killing you softly frame of mind.
Let us pray for them and for all those at risk of becoming their victims.