Can spiritual care addressing hopelessness and despair be one of the answers to countering sentiment for physician-assisted suicide?
If we have a terminal illness and feel hopelessness and despair, how far a stretch is that to a desire to take one’s own life? Not far I think. Can it be that in our desire to cure, and our failure to admit when we cannot cure, that we have inadvertently fostered the movement toward physician-assisted suicide? I believe so.
Massachusetts is the next in the line of states with a ballot initiative to allow physician-assisted suicide for terminally ill patients. It is expected to pass on November 6, and if it does, Massachusetts will become the fourth state to legalize it either through ballot or court; Oregon and Washington have passed laws by ballot initiatives and Montana by court order.
Physician-Assisted Suicide: Easing Death?
In an October 2012 article in The Economist entitled, “Assisted Suicide: Easing Death,” the author maintains that laws such as this with provisions that the patient must be terminal, with a six months or less prognosis, prevent the slippery slope. It seems to me that the exact opposite is true. As the article points out, Switzerland, Belgium and the Netherlands do not require a terminal illness. We have already begun the slide.
A patient with “severe psychological pain,” can opt out of life and commit suicide with the assistance of a physician. Severe depression may exclude physician-assisted suicide in the United States where it is legal, but for how long, when European nations allow it? Maybe it should be legal if one has Seasonal Affective Disorder, and can’t wait until spring. The Economist’s article contradicts itself and demonstrates that we are already on this slippery slope.
Denying the Reality of Death
In denying the reality of death, we have often deprived ourselves of the opportunity to heal wounded relationships, find ultimate meaning in our lives, and receive forgiveness. Hopelessness, despair and the feeling that if we cannot cure the illness, then there is nothing else we can do, creates a feeling of helplessness and a desire to regain control. And if “there is nothing else we can do,” then why not opt for physician-assisted suicide?
But that’s a lie.
There is never a time when there is nothing we can do. Dr. Carol Taylor RN, PhD, points that out in her article, “Rethinking Hopelessness and the Role of Spiritual Care When Cure Is No Longer an Option.” As I’ve said in a prior post, we can hold a hand. We can promise to keep memories alive. We can offer friendship, and relationship, even if it just presence and looking a person in the eye, and being with them on their journey.
By doing this, we are demonstrating that their life has meaning and purpose, that they have love and relatedness, and perhaps this can foster forgiveness where it is needed. We help people move from brokenness to integration and wholeness. That is a type of healing that the science of medicine alone cannot achieve. Perhaps if we had more of that type of healing, there would be less of a call for physician-assisted suicide.
Last Updated: May 20, 2019