Christian Perspectives on Assisted Suicide and Euthanasia: The Anglican Tradition

Committee on Medical Ethics, Episcopal Diocese of Washington, Are Assisted Suicide and Euthanasia Morally Acceptable for Christians? Perspectives to Consider (Mount St. Alban: Episcopal Church House, 1996). Members of the committee who developed the full report are Cohen Cynthia B. , Ph.D., J.D., Chair, Rev. Dr. Bird David J. , Co-Chair Ball Jean Galloway , J.D. Cherouny Priscilla , M.Div. Cornett Frank W. , M.D., J.D. Hagerty Alex Lusk Patricia , M.P.H., R.N.C., L.N.H. Oler Virginia , M.D. Rainey Dorothy Timberlake Rev. George P. Trigg Joseph W. Rev. Dr.

Smith D.H. , Health and Medicine in the Anglican Tradition (New York: Crossroad, 1986): At 17–18; and Campbell C.S. , “Religious Ethics and Active Euthanasia in a Pluralistic Society,” Kennedy Institute of Ethics Journal, 2 (1992): 253–77.

See Kirk K.E. , Some Principles of Moral Theology and Their Application (London: Longmans, 1920); Maurice F.D. , The Kingdom of Christ (London: SCM Press, Vol. II, 1958): At 331; Smith , supra note 2; and Sedgwick T. Turner P. , eds., The Crisis in Moral Teaching in the Episcopal Church (Harrisburg: Morehouse, 1992).

Sykes S. Booty J. , eds., The Study of Anglicanism (London: SPCK, 1988): Pt. III.

Dunstan G.R. , The Artifice of Ethics (London: SCM Press, 1974): At 52; and Dunstan G.R. , “The Authority of a Moral Claim: Ian Ramsey and the Practice of Medicine,” Journal of Medical Ethics, 13 (1987): 189–94.

Beauchamp T.L. , “Introduction,” in Beauchamp T.L. , ed., Intending Death: The Ethics of Assisted Suicide and Euthanasia (Upper Saddle River: Prentice Hall, 1996): 1–22.

Other drugs, such as insulin, potassium, and even carbon monoxide, have been implicated in controversies over whether pain relief or assisted suicide and euthanasia have been provided to persons who receive drugs and subsequently the. None of these drugs has as its primary action the relief of pain. Therefore the conclusions drawn about the use of barbiturates in those who subsequently the also apply to these other drugs.

For exceptional cases in which barbiturates are appropriately used to render terminally ill patients unconscious, see Truog R.D. , “Barbiturates in the Care of the Terminally Ill,” N. Engl. J. Med., 327 (1992): 1678–82.

Kirk K.E. , Conscience and Its Problems: An Introduction to Casuistry (London: Longmans, Green, 1927): At 8.

General Synod Board for Social Responsibility, On Dying Well. An Anglican Contribution to the Debate on Euthanasia (Newport: Church Information Office, 1975): At 61.

Brock D. , “Voluntary Active Euthanasia,” Hastings Center Report, 22, no. 2 (1992): 10–22.

Consider the context in which a man poisons his wife over a period of several years; she ends up in an intensive care unit in hopeless condition. When the doctor removes the respirator with permission from an appropriate surrogate, he/she does not kill the wife. It is the husband who is responsible for her underlying condition who causes her death.

Exodus 20:13.

Vanderpool H.Y. , “Death and Dying: Euthanasia and Sustaining Life: I. Historical Aspects,” Encyclopedia of Bioethics (New York: Macmillan, rev. ed., Vol. 1, 1995): 554–63.

2 Corinthians 5:1–10, 12:8-9.

Ahitopel hanged himself after David's son failed to take his advice in his rebellion against his father (2 Samuel 17:23). Abimelech, who was mortally wounded by a woman in battle, ordered his armor-bearer to kill him to save him from public disgrace (Judges 9:50–66). Saul was wounded in battle and committed suicide to spare himself mockery by a victorious enemy (1 Samuel 31:1–6; 2 Samuel 15:1; and 1 Chronicles 10:1–13). Zimri set afire a house and therein burned himself to death just as he was about to be captured after having killed the king of Israel and all his servants (1 Kings 16:18–19). The warrior Razis killed himself rather than suffer dishonor (2 Maccabees 14:41–46). Judas hanged himself after betraying Christ (Matthew 27:5). Paul, on the other hand, prevented his jailer from committing suicide (Acts 16:27–28).

Amundsen D.W. , “Suicide and Early Christian Values,” in Brody B.A. , ed., Suicide and Euthanasia (Dordrecht: Kluwer, 1989): 77–153.

Wood T. , “Homicide,” in Childress J.F. Macquarrie J. , eds., Westminster Dictionary of Christian Ethics (Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 1986): At 270–71.

Ferngren G.B. , “Ethics of Suicide in Renaissance and Reformation,” in Brody B.A. , ed., Suicide and Euthanasia (Dordrecht: Kluwer, 1989): 155–81.

I am indebted to Sulmasy Daniel P. O.F.M., M.D., Ph.D., for bringing this to my attention.

Rashdall H. , The Theory of Good and Evil: A Treatise on Moral Philosophy (Oxford: Clarendon Press, Vol. 1, 1907): 208–12.

Inge W.R. , Christian Ethics and Moral Problems (New York: Putnam, 1930).

Fletcher J. , Morals and Medicine (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1954): At 172–210.

Childress J.F. , “Life, Prolongation of,” in Childress J.F. Macquarrie J. , eds., Westminster Dictionary of Christian Ethics (Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 1986): 349–50.

Report of the Task Force on Assisted Suicide to the 122nd Convention of the Episcopal Diocese of Newark, Jan. 27, 1996, at 8 (hereafter the Newark Report).

See Fletcher , supra note 23, at 195–96.

See Newark Report, supra note 25, at 4.

See Inge , supra note 22, at 397.

Farley W. , Tragic Vision and Divine Compassion: A Contemporary Theodicy (Louisville: Westminster/John Knox Press, 1990): At 21.

See Newark Report, supra note 25, at 7.

Miller F.G. , “Regulating Physician-Assisted Death,” N. Engl. J. Med., 331 (1994): 119–23.

Sulmasy D.P. , “Managed Care and Managed Death,” Archives of Internal Medicine, 155 (1995): 133–36; Singer P.A. Siegler M. , “Euthanasia—A Critique,” N. Engl. J. Med., 322 (1990): 1881–83; and Misbin R.I. , “Physicians' Aid in Dying,” N. Engl. J. Med., 235 (1991): 1307–11.

Küng H. , “A Dignified Dying,” in Küng H. Jens W. , Dying with Dignity (New York: Continuum, 1995): At 33.

1 Corinthians 6:19–20.

See General Synod Board for Social Responsibility, supra note 10, at 16.

See Newark Report, supra note 25, at 4.

Wheeler S.E. , Stewards of Life: Bioethics and Pastoral Care (Nashville: Abingdon, 1996): At 33.

1 Peter 1:5-7; Hebrews 12:1; Romans 5:3-5; and Psalm 119:71.

Matthew 16:21; Smith , supra note 2, at 6–8; Smith D.H. , “Suffering, Medicine, and Christian Theology,” in Lammers S.E. Verhey A. , eds., On Moral Medicine: Theological Perspectives in Medical Ethics (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1987): 255–61; and McGill A.C. , Suffering: A Test of Theological Method (Philadelphia: Westminster, 1982): At 10–11.

Lewis C.S. , The Problem of Pain (New York: Macmillan, 1943): At 168.

2 Corinthians 12:7–10.

Verhey A. , “Choosing Death: The Ethics of Assisted Suicide,” Christian Century, July 17–24, 1996, at 716–19.

Foley K.M. , “The Relationship of Pain and Symptom Management to Patient Requests for Physician-Assisted Suicide,” Journal of Pain and Symptom Management, 6 (1991): 289–97; and Truog R.D. Berde C.B. , “Pain, Euthanasia, and Anesthesiologists,” Anesthesiology, 78 (1993): 353–60.

New York State Task Force on Life and the Law, When Death Is Sought: Assisted Suicide and Euthanasia in the Medical Context (New York: New York State Task Force on Life and the Law, 1994): At 35–48.

See Committee on Medical Ethics of the Episcopal Diocese of Washington, Before You Need Them: Advance Directives for Health Care, Living Wills and Durable Powers of Attorney (Cincinnati: Forward Movement Publications, 1995).

Miller R.J. , “Hospice Care as an Alternative to Euthanasia,” Law, Medicine & Health Care, 20 (1992): 127–32.

Callahan D. , “When Self-Determination Runs Amok,” Hastings Center Report, 22, no. 2 (1992): 52–55.

See Brock , supra note 11, at 20.

Bouma H. , Christian Faith, Health, and Medical Practice (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1989): At 300.

Blendon R.J. Szalay U.S. Knox R.A. , “Should Physicians Aid Their Patients in Dying?,” JAMA, 267 (1992): 2658–62; and Annas G.J. , “Death by Prescription—The Oregon Initiative,” N. Engl. J. Med., 331 (1994): 1240–43.

Tousignant M. Davis P. , “Nursing Homes in Area, Nationwide Plagued by Reports of Abuse,” Washington Post, Oct. 13, 1996, at B1.

Romans 14:7.

See General Synod Board for Social Responsibility, supra note 10, at 11.

Wennberg R.N. , Terminal Choices: Euthanasia, Suicide, and the Right to Die (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1989): At 86–87.

Treatment and the Care of the Dying (Bloomington: Indiana University, 1987).

Sedgwick T. , “Introduction,” in Sedgwick T. Turner P. , eds., The Crisis in Moral Teaching in the Episcopal Church (Harrisburg: Morehouse, 1992): At 9–10.

See Kirk , supra note 9, at 79.

Id. at 33.

See Campbell , supra note 2, at 275.

Sanderson R. , Sermon IV, in Sermons ad Populum Works (Vol. Ill: At 101) (as quoted in Wood T. , English Casuistical Divinity during the Seventeenth Century (London: SPCK, 1952): At 58).