Euthanasia

Assisted Suicide—A Quadriplegic’s Perspective

Thursday, October 13, 2016

Culture is so easily influenced by the entertainment industry. This is why I am sounding an alarm about a very dangerous message in a film released earlier this summer. It’s simply titled Me Before You.

Dying with Dignity

Tuesday, December 6, 2016

Bills to change the law to allow euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide continue to be presented to parliaments throughout the western world, on a wave of overwhelming public support for “the right to choose and have a dignified death.” While it is unlikely the debate will go away, we can still hope for a more honest one.

A Biblical View on the Sanctity of Life, Part 2

Friday, February 24, 2017

In the 23 years since the passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), I have watched its most celebrated ideals erode and crumble under a double standard. I had the honor of serving on the National Council on Disability when the ADA became law, and ideally, it was intended to guarantee the basic rights of Americans with disabilities. Many saw the ADA as a law which would help move society beyond the premise that one is “better off dead than disabled.” I am amazed, however, at how much people’s fears of disability have eroded the most basic of human rights, especially now that so many more people are surviving disabling conditions. And when society’s fundamental fear of disability provides the framework to legislate policy, the outcome can only result in a double standard.

Me Before You and Physician-Assisted Suicide

Friday, March 3, 2017

When an idea or concept needs a push in popular culture, Hollywood often makes a movie about it. With the power of emotional drama and a film score designed to tug at the heart, Hollywood has the power to advance ideas that we would otherwise reject on moral grounds. Its most recent attempt uses the book-to-movie love story Me Before You to create sympathy for and acceptance of euthanasia and Physician-Assisted Suicide (PAS).

Him Before All: Wisdom to Inform Bioethical Conversation

Thursday, March 23, 2017

Bioethical dilemmas are being explored everywhere. Moral questions embedded in the application of medical technology are not reserved for elite medical roundtables. Rather, ethical decisions are the prevailing substance of entertainment. Stories do touch our souls.

Him Before Us: Wisdom to Inform Bioethical Conversation

Friday, March 31, 2017

The prevailing cultural narrative, woven into routine dialogue and highlighted throughout the entertainment industry, turns on how the individual alone must define what is good using one’s internal moral compass. The frame of reference for making optimal moral choices is exclusively located within the uniqueness of the autonomous person, who applies private and personal criteria to achieve happiness, wholeness, and significance.

Thinking as Christians about Love, Compassion, and Suffering at the End of Life

Thursday, July 18, 2019

As I have reflected on those conversations, two aspects stand out: 1) their questions represent the public, secular views about death and dying popularized in American culture; and 2) they were more interested in avoiding physical pain than in thinking Christianly about the problem. I want to briefly describe the view they seem to have absorbed, and the consequences we already see from legalization of both euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide (PAS).

The ‘Slippery Slope’ of Euthanasia

Wednesday, May 29, 2019

One of my favorite parts of getting around Washington, D.C. is the Metro system. The zzzip of the Metro fare card that opens the turnstile, the flashing lights that announce the incoming train, and the garbled announcements of the upcoming station create a vivid collage. Even more, the long entrance/exit rides, such as on Rosslyn station’s 270-foot escalator, induce a bit of vertigo. The wide stainless steel divider might tempt brash or drunk riders to emulate their childhood prowess on the playground slide, but large discs mounted at strategic intervals along the divider deter all but the most foolhardy. It is dangerous to descend that slippery slope.

The Good Death in Antiquity and the Middle Ages | Part 1

Monday, January 13, 2020

In older Christian books on moral theology or ethics, the usage of the term euthanasia was common. However, these works interpret it in a fashion entirely different from how it is currently employed. The word euthanasia is a Greek composite term (eû + thánatos) meaning nothing but “good death,” “beautiful death,” or “pleasant death.” Accordingly, older Christian textbooks presented “euthanasia” as a Christian preparation for death. But what exactly was meant by that?

The Good Death during the Reformation and Modernism | Part 2

Tuesday, February 11, 2020

Only four years after the publication of Staupitz’ book, Martin Luther also authored a writing on the good death: Ein Sermon von der Bereitung zum Sterben (“A sermon on the preparation for death”). Unlike Staupitz, who called for a mystical imitation of Christ’s death, Luther emphasized the connection between Christ and a Christian which is established solely through faith in the forgiveness of sins on the basis of Christ’s complete work on the cross. Christians have a living hope beyond death because of the righteousness of God which was established on Golgotha. It is from this perspective that Luther answers of what constitutes a good death.[1]

Preparing for a Good Death Today | Part 3

Friday, March 6, 2020

Preparing for a good death in a society which focuses on the temporal world is not easy for a Christian. On the contrary: it is a struggle. Professionals attempt to relieve the dying from pain, to feed him artificially, and to give him breath with a ventilator. While it is commendable that medical advances are utilized, a tension may arise between the necessary medical procedures and the need for counseling at the end of life. For instance, in order to pray with the dying Christian, to read Scripture with him, and to talk to him about the imminent journey in a confident manner, undisturbed privacy is necessary.

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