Value Conflicts Raised by Physician Assisted Suicide 1

This paper was presented at the seminar, “Options at the End of Life: Competing Values and Difficult Decisions,” sponsored by the Concern for Dying Council and other interested entities, in New York, May 12, 1990, at the New York Academy of Medicine.

Deardon Cardinal John “The Challenge of Religious Pluralism,” Origins vol. 6, n. 19, (Oct. 28, 1976), pp. 293–299.

On Euthanasia, Vatican Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, June 26, 1980, p. 4.

Ashley , and O'Rourke Health Care Ethics, (St. Louis: The Catholic Health Association), 1989, p. 378.

I have borrowed the term “mission in life” from the statement of the Pontifical Commission Cor Unum on the Euthanasia Document issued by the Catholic Church. The term “mission in life” is the same as the term “purpose in life” which I have used in other places as the ultimate criterion for judging the use of the means to prolong life. Through this term, I wish to convey the concept utilized by Pope Pius XII, when he stated “Life, health, all termporal activities are in fact subordinated to spiritual ends.” And the concept of the Document on Euthanasia which states: “Everyone has the duty to lead his or her life in accordance with God's plan, that life is entrusted to the individual as a good that must bear fruit already here on earth, but that finds its full perfection only in eternal life.” The “mission of life” is the same for all persons: to love God, love ourselves, and to love others. However, the objectives by which we accomplish this mission, will differ one person from another. (Cf. O'Rourke and Boyle, “Questions of Ethics Regarding the Fatally Ill and the Dying”, Medical Ethics: Sources of Catholic Teaching, St. Louis: The Catholic Health Association, 1989, p. 326.)

Committee for Pro-Life Activities of the NCCB, “Guidelines for Legislation on Life-Sustaining Treatment” (11-10-84), Origins vol. 14, n. 32 (Jan. 24, 1985) p. 526–528.

Cf. Grisez Germain , and O'Rourke Kevin “Different Viewpoints on Use of Hydration and Nutrition,” Issues in Law and Medicine; vol. 5, n. 2, p. 165–196.

Sullivan Joseph Catholic Teaching on the Morality of Euthanasia, Washington. DC: Catholic University of America, 1944, p. 44.

Mystici Corporis, AAS, 35 (July 20, 1943) 239.

Gaudium et Spes n. 27, Documents of Second Vatican Council, ed. Flannery, Scholarly Resources, Wilmington, DE: 1975, p. 928.

Vatican Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Declaration on Euthanasia June 26, 1980, p. 4.

Op. cit, p. 3.

Gula Richard “Euthanasia: A Catholic Perspective,” Health Progress, December 1987, p. 29ff.

Op. cit., p. 5.

See footnote 3.

Loeser John D. , and Egan Kelly J. , eds, Managing the Chronic Pain Patient: Theory & Practice at the University of Washington, (New York: Raven Press), 1989.

Vatican Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Declaration on Euthanasia, June 26, 1980, p. 7.

Kass Leon “Neither for Love nor Money; Why Doctors Must Not Kill,” The Public Interest, January 1989, p. 25ff.

World Medical Association, “Declaration on Euthanasia,” Document 17, (1987).

Peretz David “The Illusion of Rational Suicide,” (Review) Hastings Center Report, December, 1981, p. 40.

Camus Albert The Myth of Sisyphus, (New York: Vintage Books), 1955, preface; p. 16; p. 49.

Gula op. cit.

Archdiocese of Atlanta, “Georgia Man Asks to Turn Off Life Supporting Ventilator,” Origins vol. 19 n. 17 Sept. 28, 1989, p. 273ff.

Scheinin Anne-Grace “The Burden of Suicide.” Newsweek, Feb. 7, 1983, p. 13.