Euthanasia: The "Good" Death?
Welcome to Holland?
It's been exactly one year since Martha died. On this day of the anniversary of her death, I sit in the room in which she died. Nothing is left of the room we created for her. The walls and carpet are the same but when my mother-in-law moved in with us, when her illness made it impossible for her to live on her own, we transformed our living room into her home. We brought things from her home that she loved. A chair, a table, her throws and pillows. The bed was an interloper, a huge, ugly hospital bed; but we made it her own by using her sheets and blankets. She didn't stay with us long, just a couple of months. My wife cared for her every minute of the day. The whole family changed their lives for this two month period and we all spent as much time with "Ma" as we could. She needed a lot of help and no desire she had went unmet by someone in the family. There were oxygen machines, suction machines, medicines, and things we prefer not to mention in our living room but . . it was Ma that was the important new feature in our home. I don't recall anyone feeling burdened, though Ma worried about this. There was talk of going home (both homes) and we fully anticipated for a while that she would actually return to her home. But the more we talked to her doctors we knew it would be her real Home she would be returning to. Because we're not doctors, we felt we needed a visiting nurse, so we called a hospice agency. They were so accomodating. They came over immediately. They interviewed Ma and all of us. That's when I slowly began to see that something was amiss. We had not invited angels into our home (as I was told by friends and family with some experience with hospice) but ghouls. We became aware that the goal of hospice (at least this hospice agency) is not making sure the end of life is peaceful and as free of pain as possible but the goal was: the end of life. The hospice lady spoke of Death as a friend. Ma, God bless her grit, told the hospice lady, "I'm going home." The hospice lady had no answer for this but looked at us as if to say, "The poor crazy lady actually thinks she has a chance."
When Ma died, we were all there. It was the struggle of her life. She was prepared to die, she talked of wanting to go Home, but when it came time, she fought it with all her might. As she struggled for breath, she looked me in the eyes and begged me to do something! But I could not do anything! We tried but nothing worked. The hospice nurse was called and made it in time to tell us that she had truly died. Ma was Home. After the funeral home people took her body away, we began transforming the room back to what it once was, what it is now, a living room.
Why do I tell this story now, a year later? What does this have to do with autism? Nothing and everything. There is a movement in this country to provide an "easy death", a "good death" for people. It's called euthanasia. What an angelic word. As I think back to Ma's death, I am faced with a feeling of relief. I am relieved that she no longer suffers but also relieved that our family is no longer going through her illness and death. It was hard to feel this latter form of relief at first because the pain and sadness of losing her were the prevailing emotions. But in the back of my mind was a guilty feeling of relief that my battle was over too. As I think of this feeling I realized that this feeling is the true motivation for "euthanizing" the ill and elderly. "We are saving them from the agony, the indignity of death," a proponent may say. Then I think of Ma. When she looked me in the eye (and I know she was in pain and terror), she was not asking for a "good death" but a chance at life. No woman on earth was more prepared to meet her Maker than Ma, but she was not ready to go. She chose life. Death is not kind, pretty, or dignified. Death is not a friend. None of us knows what we will do at that point. We all fear it, perhaps we merely fear the pain of it. Euthanasia is not about the dying, it is about the living.
When I hear of parents of children with autism or other disabling illnesses taking the children's lives to spare them of a life of indignity and struggle, I certainly have pity, empathy, and a level of understanding. But then I have to come back to the thought, "Whose life is it?" Euthanasia is different from suicide in that death comes by another's hand. I am afraid that I understand the motivation that some may have to take their own lives (I have been there before). But life is so unpredictable that the things that may look unbearable today may be gone or changed the very next morning. How sad to think, "If he had only waited one more day!" But euthanasia takes the decision not only away from God but away from the person.
Euthanasia is legal in the Netherlands, Belgium, and Oregon. Euthanasia literally means the "good death" or "well death". It sounds so peaceful, so good. It is called "mercy killing". It is designed to ease the suffering of terminally ill patients.
The problem with things that sound good is the principle of unintended consequences. Most of us would say, "Well, I am not the one suffering so I understand how a person could not want to live anymore." We are a compassionate people. Some of us have been in pain and understand the desire to be free of it. The unintended consequence here is that when you give a person the authority over another's life, sometimes they take it. A "terminal illness" seems pretty clear cut but how about a "life not worth living"? Is it "fair" to keep people alive when they want to be dead? or when they cannot tell us they want to be dead?
Let's look at what's happening in Holland. In 1984 euthanasia ceased to be a crime in Holland (the Netherlands). In the beginning there were detailed criteria for when a patient could be euthanized. But as with all things, the criteria expanded and was loosened. Today there is great concern that the physicians who make such decisions have already made a decision for death over the opposite wishes of the people and families involved. In some cases people with depression (but no terminal illness) have been euthanized. Now Holland wants to legalize child euthanasia. How long before children with disabilities are "chosen" by the physicians for the "good death"? The T-4 Program in Nazi Germany killed thousands of people with disabilities. Their reasoning is eerily similar to arguments heard today in Holland. Are children with autism candidates for the "good death"? Taking control of decisions about life or death is taking on a decision that was never ours to begin with. God reserves this right for Himself.
What can I do? Fight for the life of all people. Terri Schiavo is a woman who suffered a mysterious illness and is now bed-ridden and brain-damaged. She cannot talk or move the way she wants to. Her husband, who has already fathered children with his girlfriend, wants to take away Terri's feeding tube. It is being called euthanasia. Can anyone honestly describe starving to death as a "good death"? Terri does not have autism but you can see that some day a people who would allow Terri to be starved to death could decide that a child with autism needs to be spared of a life of non-communication, pain, and suffering. And what about his family? And what about the drain on our education system? And what about the tax money that will be spent to care for him for the rest of his life? Dear parents, please stand up before there is no one left to stand up for those who are too weak to fight or too unaware to say no! Proverbs 24:11-12 says, "Rescue those who are unjustly sentenced to death; don't stand back and let them die. Don't try to avoid responsibility by saying you didn't know about it. For God knows all hearts, and he sees you. He keeps watch over your soul, and he knows you knew! And he will judge all people according to what they have done."
May God help our nation. Already Oregon allows euthanasia in certain situations. If things go as they have in Holland, it will not stop there.
Most of you have read the story called Welcome to Holland. It tells of a person planning a trip to Italy and suddenly arrives in Holland through some unexplained accident. The point of the story is that autism or some other developmental disability is a little like winding up in a different country. It's not what you expected but it's still a lovely place to be. Of course, many parents of kids with autism have taken exception to that nice little story (see Holland, Schmolland). Well, children with autism do not need to take that other trip to Holland. Make sure that some doctor some day does not pull you aside after lecturing you on the peace that can be had in death and say to you and your child, "Welcome to Holland." ~GJH~ (9-20-2004)
For More Information on Euthansia See:
US Pediatric Nursing Journal Toys with Condoning Infanticide - The nurses do not condemn the procedure but talk about "gray areas" and the issue being "complex". "Beware! What we don't condemn, what we claim to be mere 'dilemmas,' we eventually are urged to allow. Infanticide is moving into the mainstream of bioethics and the medical intelligentsia." (18 Jul 2008).
We'll Pay for Your Suicide But Not Your Cancer Treatment: Oregon - This unbelievable story shows the trend of the medical/insurance policies for our future (23 Jun 2008).
Now It's the Swiss! - The article from Yahoo News, Swiss May Expand Assisted Suicide Law, details the expansion of assisted suicide laws to include mental illnesses. How much longer will it be until there are no limits? (2 Feb 2007).
Dutch Commission To Set Rules On Baby Euthanasia - According to this 29 Nov 2005 article, "euthanasia" is illegal for newborns in the Netherlands. In a civil society that would be the end of the issue; however, in Holland laws are apparently simply guidelines that can easily be broken by a "commission".
Life Just Got a Little Cheaper - Joseph Farah reports on the selling of puposely-aborted babies to be used for "youth-injection beauty treatments".
Mercy!: Infant Euthanasia Creeps Into Acceptability - A National Review Online article by Kathryn Jean Lopez.
Dutch Euthanasia Doctors May Now Kill Perfectly Healthy Adults - An article from the LifeSite web site that chronicles the ever expanding reasons for killing people whoe are "suffering through living."
From A Slippery Slope to An Avalanche - Chuck Colson - Townhall.com
Do Not Push Gently Into That Good Night - Rosie Dimanno - Toronto Star
Netherlands Hospital Euthanizes Babies - It's not a plan, it is already happening! The article mentions the mentally retarded person as a candidate as well!
Better for Old People to Kill Themselves Than Be A Nuisance, Lawmaker Says - A disturbing article about a British lawmaker by Patrick Goodenough - CNSNews.com - December 14, 2004.
Holland: Bending the Rules? - BBC News
Legalized Physician-Assisted Suicide in Oregon 1998-2000 - New England Journal of Medicine
Severely Ill Baby Ought To Be Allowed To Die, Judge Tells Parents - Independent UK - It's already happening!
Relatives, Not Patients, Ask for Mercy Killings - An article by Tracey Ellis who reports in This Is Guernsey News that the families of the ill and elderly ask for "mercy" killing rather than the patients themselves.
Disclaimer: This page is an article of opinions."