Suicide Program Wins High Praise…They Think

suicide pill A physician-assisted suicide program in Seattle has won high praise from it’s patients.

In fact, not a single patient who has been assisted in killing himself has complained.

And, the authors of an article in the New England Journal of Medicine commended the program for the sense of control the pill provided it to its victims.

I guess I don’t get what all the hoopla is about. People have been killing themselves for thousands of years. I don’t know why giving people a prescription for pills to do the deed makes it any more dignified or gives people any more control than the other traditional methods of killing oneself.

All the praise about the program doesn’t help me either. In fact, my problem with physicians killing their patients is the lack of complaints, particularly from the patients. You see, there will never be a complaint from a patient because after all, they will be . . well . . . dead. If they would have had a change of heart later we will never know it. If scientists might have found a cure before the patient died we will never know it. If God might have healed the patient, we will never know it.

I have a problem with so-called “death with dignity” movement not because of my faith, but because of my doubts. I doubt that people make good decisions when they are in pain and are scared. I doubt that doctors are always right about how long someone has to live and whether their disease will go into remission. I doubt that doctors can say with certainty that God will not heal people.

Maybe I just need more faith. GS

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