Terminally ill and wanting to end life via euthanasia

[RollTide1987]

Saw the news where that terminally ill woman from Oregon ended her life on Saturday to spare herself the pain that was befalling her. Does God grant mercy to those terminally ill people who have no chance of surviving their illness who choose to end their suffering via euthanasia? Or are they damned to Hell as a suicide?

 

[Nelka]

It depends whether she knew what she was doing or not, what her mental capacity was.

I she was an atheist for example she will have more on her soul than suicide.

 

[DavidFilmer]

Saw the news where that terminally ill woman from Oregon ended her life on Saturday to spare herself the pain that was befalling her.

She wasn’t from Oregon. She came here to commit suicide, because Oregon law allows it.

Does God grant mercy to those terminally ill people who have no chance of surviving their illness who choose to end their suffering via euthanasia?

Murder is the deliberate taking of an innocent human life. Suicide is murder, with the unusual condition that the perpetrator and victim are the same.

Murder is potentially mortally sinful. But no act is always mortally sinful based only upon the nature of the act. Full knowledge of the sinful nature of the act, and complete consent must be present for an act (any act) to be mortally sinful.

In the past, the Church took a very dim view of suicide, and categorically denied Catholic burial to such victims. More recently, the Church has recognized that suicide is possibly the result of mental illness or some other mitigating factor - after all, the instinct of self-preservation is one of our strongest human instincts, and a person in his “right mind” would never try to kill himself. If a suicide victim was unable to form complete consent by some impediment, then the sin of murder would be no more than venial, and thus would not merit condemnation (assuming no other mortal sins are present).

So, to answer your question directly: It depends. There is no guaranteed exception to Catholic doctrine for terminally ill people.

 

[Dorothy]

Let us pray that we do not have “copycat” instances of terminally ill patients desiring suicide. Suffering in union with Christ is so powerful. The heroic lives of the saints attest to this!

There is palliative care, and I pray that they come to know the loving God who is waiting to take them in His arms.

 

[getysbg]

This morning’s news had a story of a college aged woman with terminal brain cancer, only a few weeks to live, who was able to finally play one game for her college basketball team before she passes.

No one likes pain, unremitting pain. But to those of faith, we can offer that pain up. To take what is not ours to take …

 

[rcwitness]

She wasn’t from Oregon. She came here to commit suicide, because Oregon law allows it.

Murder is the deliberate taking of an innocent human life. Suicide is murder, with the unusual condition that the perpetrator and victim are the same.

Murder is potentially mortally sinful. But no act is always mortally sinful based only upon the nature of the act. Full knowledge of the sinful nature of the act, and complete consent must be present for an act (any act) to be mortally sinful.

In the past, the Church took a very dim view of suicide, and categorically denied Catholic burial to such victims. More recently, the Church has recognized that suicide is possibly the result of mental illness or some other mitigating factor - after all, the instinct of self-preservation is one of our strongest human instincts, and a person in his “right mind” would never try to kill himself. If a suicide victim was unable to form complete consent by some impediment, then the sin of murder would be no more than venial, and thus would not merit condemnation (assuming no other mortal sins are present).

So, to answer your question directly: It depends. There is no guaranteed exception to Catholic doctrine for terminally ill people.

Well said.

 

[John_Martin]

I said this on another thread of same topic:

Doctors today do not do as doctors of yesterday.
Yesterday: “Here is a prescription - take it twice a day for a month”
Today: “Would you be interested in a prescription to take twice a day for a month? it is your decision”

Her doctor, practicing “modern medicine” (let the patient decide so they will accept the cost with the insurance company), her doctor practiced euthanasia, yet it is not a “good death” - that is dying when God takes you and you accepting what God does to you. This was Killing, not Good Killing. The patient was being a modern patient of the doctor practicing modern medicine.

Yes, she did it knowingly, but who knows when a person is acting as a sheep following a hireling shepherd or going off on their own? God knows, but the shepherd (doctor and society) is still responsible.