So You Want the Right to Die!

So You Want the Right to Die!

Some of our neighbors have been marching for the "right to die" and demanding the legislators grant their wish. All should know that there are certain rights they already enjoy in this area:

You have the right to refuse to see a doctor.

You do not have to take prescribed medications.

You can refuse to have surgeries and treatments such as radiation and chemotherapy.

You can refuse to enter an ambulance.

You can refuse to enter to a hospital.

You can prepare and sign a living will which will forbid medical personnel from using extraordinary procedures to extend your life or from resuscitation should your heart cease to beat.

Every one is going to die. Of that we can be sure. In fact we are all terminal from the day of our birth. Some grow weary of waiting for a natural end to their lives and desire a quicker closure. Most anyone who is determined to die can accomplish it a brief period of time. It is called suicide. Over the years those desiring a hasty death have come up with dozens of ways to accomplish it. The problem with suicide is the stigma attached to it and the shame and the suffering and grief it imposes on the deceased person's surviving family.

To achieve a self-willed death without that stigma, someone revived the old idea of having a doctor administer the lethal dose. This is a practice from the distant past. In ancient Greece prior to Hippocrates, it was common for doctors to administer death. In the days when Western Civilization still honored its Christian moral basis, no respectable doctor would consider a request to hasten death. Now that we have arrived at the post-Christian age, there are some in the field who, for a proper some of money, will do so.

The Creator, who gave us life, tells us, "Thou shalt not kill" (Ex. 20:13). The meaning of this ordinance is "thou shalt do no murder." But the meaning of suicide is "self-murder." If you ask a doctor to end your life you are asking him to violate this sacred prohibition and the Hippocractic tradition. If you take your own life you commit self-murder. Rather than either of these steps, we should face the end of life like millions who have gone before us. Live a life of dignity. Live at peace with God and man. When your physical life is no more sustainable, then resign yourself to the hands of God and those you love and wait for your deliverance. That will truly be a death with dignity.

Sincerely,

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