Can a mercy killing ever be not sinful?

[Sir_Knight]

I think each and every one of us here can quote Catechism until the cows come home, but I’m willing to bet that if any of us were in this situation, not one of us would walk away from our friend.

That was the point of my question.

 

[Ron_Conte]

“Euthanasia in the strict sense is understood to be an action or omission which of itself and by intention causes death, with the purpose of eliminating all suffering.” (Evangelium Vitae, n. 65)

“Taking into account these distinctions, in harmony with the Magisterium of my Predecessors and in communion with the Bishops of the Catholic Church, I confirm that euthanasia is a grave violation of the law of God, since it is the deliberate and morally unacceptable killing of a human person. This doctrine is based upon the natural law and upon the written word of God, is transmitted by the Church’s Tradition and taught by the ordinary and universal Magisterium. Depending on the circumstances, this practice involves the malice proper to suicide or murder.” (Evangelium Vitae, n. 65)

 

[baylee]

That was the point of my question.

Yes I know Sir Knight. I know I quoted you but I think I was really responding to many of the other posts in this thread. I think most have been quoting Catechism but not responding to the crux of the issue. It seems as if this has turned into a discussion on what we typically think of when we think of euthanasia, but I do not think that is what you intended (am I right?)

 

[Sir_Knight]

Yes. My intent was to thank you for understanding what I was asking.

 

[Newbie2]

I agree (please see my other post in answer to the original question). As a physician, I have sat at the bedside, holding the hand of many patients at the end of life, either due to injury, disease (cancer) or age. (A little unusual, perhaps, I have always been old fashioned in my approach to the social aspects of medicine). I have given enormous doses of intravenous morphine to those with cancer whose pain was so great that doses that would easily kill a person not in pain seemed barely to affect them. Under those circumstances I would continue to increase the morphine drip until a tolerable state of comfort was achieved. I have sometimes wondered if knowing that, while the intent of the medication was to alleviate pain, a side effect could be that it would hasten death; was a sin. *** I feel firmly now that this is not the case.***

I have, however, had to tell a patient, on more than one occasion that “if you tell me you do not want life saving treatment, or that you want no more treatment at all, in that, I have no choice. If you tell me that you want me to act in any way to intentionally end your life, in that I have no business.” When the law changes and requires me to be a part of physician assisted suicide, I will have to leave the practice of the healing arts which I so love.

And you can rightly feel that such is not the case. Your intent was and continues to be to alleviate their suffering, not to directly cause their death.

I’m in a different boat as a veterinarian. I am allowed to actively euthanize my patients when they are infirmed, in intractable pain, are terminal, or even have behavioral problems. Still, there are moral guidelines that I follow. I have not nor will I ever euthanize a physically and behaviorally healthy animal for reasons of convenience.

However, people and animals are apples and oranges…

 

[Disciple96]

I’d like to qualify my earlier reply. I don’t think that drugging a person into unconsciousness is necessarily merciful. That person may need to ask for forgiveness, to reconcile with family or friends or God before dying and to do that needs awareness. We Christians need to keep our ultimate end in mind and not let suffering distract us from it.

I think that the teaching of the Catechism (and also JPII’s encyclicals On the Christian Meaning of Human Suffering and the Gospel of Life) is absolutely necessary for understanding how we are to deal with these situations in our lives and deal with them in as Christian a manner as possible. If the teachings of the Church have no bearing on our lives, then what good are they? Why bother learning them at all? Why even bother being Christian or Catholic Christian at all? It’s a lot of trouble to go through only to cast doctrine aside when one gets down to the nitty gritty of everyday life.

The Christian teachings on suffering are extremely important here. Suffering is not merely to be avoided or escaped, as if we were Buddhists. (I was a Buddhist for years, so I know a little something about that.) As Christians, we accept, we embrace suffering as an opportunity to attain a deeper union with Christ. We unite our sufferings to His and then (and only then) do our own sufferings become redemptive. We offer our sufferings for the redemption of our loved ones, our family and friends, our enemies, for sinners in need of conversion.

To drug someone into a coma or to kill them out of a misguided notion of “mercy” would be to rob them of this precious opportunity to unite with their Lord. I am not speaking naively about this or from lack of practice. I’ve begun to take these teachings very seriously, studying them, offering up my suffering to be united to Christ’s. And I get plenty of opportunities due to the health problems I have.

“Mercy killing” is not merciful but it is killing. “Unmerciful murder” would be more accurate. I would not walk away from a friend who was dying or in terrible pain. I would stay with him, hold his hand, pray the Chaplet of Divine Mercy and the Rosary at my friend’s bedside, and stay until he had left this world and entered the next. And then I would ask that friend to pray for me to the Lord, our God and I would continue to pray for him.

That would be mercy. That would be Christian. That would be an act of love and friendship. Just my two shekels worth.