Abstract
The following two pieces both deal with the same issue, physician-assisted death (PAD). Both are highly personal, one from a Christian physician in Canada where conscience rights on this issue are being threatened, and one from a nurse who lost her daughter to suicide. Both make excellent points regarding the harm PAD does to patients and society. I would like to add a couple of points. One is that patient autonomy is taken as an absolute right by proponents of PAD. By this logic, physicians would be obliged to prescribe narcotics to anyone who demanded them. We all know that is not in the patient's best interest. Neither is PAD which too often ends the life of someone who is depressed and lonely. Such patients need companionship, love, and understanding, not a premature death. The other point was made by George Isajiw, M.D., past president of the Catholic Medical Association. Dr. Isajiw notes that there is no empirical evidence that death ends suffering. In fact, as Catholics, we believe in purgatory, the pains of which may be mitigated by our bodily sufferings if offered in union with Christ's suffering on the Cross. As Catholic physicians we should dedicate ourselves to supporting our patients, alleviating their suffering as best as we can, accompanying terminally ill patients, and bringing together family support for those approaching the end of life.