Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-dh8gc Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-15T02:07:55.917Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Christian Perspectives on Assisted Suicide and Euthanasia: The Anglican Tradition

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2021

Cynthia B. Cohen
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

We have always had the ability to commit suicide or request euthanasia in times of serious illness. Yet these acts have been prohibited by the Christian tradition from early times. Some Christians, as they see relatives and friends kept alive too long and in poor condition through the use of current medical powers, however, are beginning to question that tradition. Are assisted suicide and euthanasia compassionate Christian responses to those in pain and suffering who face death? Or are they ways of isolating and abandoning them, of fleeing from Christian compassion, rather than expressing it?

The Committee on Medical Ethics of the Episcopal Diocese of Washington recently issued a report addressing assisted suicide and euthanasia. These matters cry out for religious contributions and perspectives, the Committee believes. The group recognizes that religious voices should not determine public policy, but believes they should be heard as we develop a social consensus about assisted suicide and euthanasia.

Type
Article
Information
Journal of Law, Medicine & Ethics , Volume 24 , Issue 4 , Winter 1996 , pp. 369 - 379
Copyright
Copyright © American Society of Law, Medicine and Ethics 1996

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

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. Rev. Dr.Trigg, Joseph W.Google Scholar
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.Google Scholar
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).Google Scholar
Sykes, S. Booty, J., eds., The Study of Anglicanism (London: SPCK, 1988): Pt. III.Google Scholar
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.Google Scholar
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.Google Scholar
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.Google Scholar
For exceptional cases in which barbiturates are appropriately used to render terminally ill patients unconscious, see Truog, R.D.et al, “Barbiturates in the Care of the Terminally Ill,” N. Engl. J. Med., 327 (1992): 1678-82.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kirk, K.E., Conscience and Its Problems: An Introduction to Casuistry (London: Longmans, Green, 1927): At 8.Google Scholar
General Synod Board for Social Responsibility, On Dying Well. An Anglican Contribution to the Debate on Euthanasia (Newport: Church Information Office, 1975): At 61.Google Scholar
Brock, D., “Voluntary Active Euthanasia,” Hastings Center Report, 22, no. 2 (1992): 10–22.Google Scholar
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.Google Scholar
Exodus 20:13.Google Scholar
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.Google Scholar
2 Corinthians 5:1–10, 12:8-9.Google Scholar
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).Google Scholar
Amundsen, D.W., “Suicide and Early Christian Values,” in Brody, B.A., ed., Suicide and Euthanasia (Dordrecht: Kluwer, 1989): 77–153.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wood, T., “Homicide,” in Childress, J.F. Macquarrie, J., eds., Westminster Dictionary of Christian Ethics (Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 1986): At 270–71.Google Scholar
Ferngren, G.B., “Ethics of Suicide in Renaissance and Reformation,” in Brody, B.A., ed., Suicide and Euthanasia (Dordrecht: Kluwer, 1989): 155-81.Google Scholar
I am indebted to Sulmasy, Daniel P. O.F.M., M.D., Ph.D., for bringing this to my attention.Google Scholar
Rashdall, H., The Theory of Good and Evil: A Treatise on Moral Philosophy (Oxford: Clarendon Press, Vol. 1, 1907): 208-12.Google Scholar
Inge, W.R., Christian Ethics and Moral Problems (New York: Putnam, 1930).Google Scholar
Fletcher, J., Morals and Medicine (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1954): At 172–210.Google Scholar
Childress, J.F., “Life, Prolongation of,” in Childress, J.F. Macquarrie, J., eds., Westminster Dictionary of Christian Ethics (Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 1986): 349-50.Google Scholar
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).Google Scholar
See Fletcher, , supra note 23, at 195–96.Google Scholar
See Newark Report, supra note 25, at 4.Google Scholar
See Inge, , supra note 22, at 397.Google Scholar
Farley, W., Tragic Vision and Divine Compassion: A Contemporary Theodicy (Louisville: Westminster/John Knox Press, 1990): At 21.Google Scholar
See Newark Report, supra note 25, at 7.Google Scholar
Miller, F.G.et al, “Regulating Physician-Assisted Death,” N. Engl. J. Med., 331 (1994): 119-23.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
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.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Küng, H., “A Dignified Dying,” in Küng, H. Jens, W., Dying with Dignity (New York: Continuum, 1995): At 33.Google Scholar
1 Corinthians 6:19–20.Google Scholar
See General Synod Board for Social Responsibility, supra note 10, at 16.Google Scholar
See Newark Report, supra note 25, at 4.Google Scholar
Wheeler, S.E., Stewards of Life: Bioethics and Pastoral Care (Nashville: Abingdon, 1996): At 33.Google Scholar
1 Peter 1:5-7; Hebrews 12:1; Romans 5:3-5; and Psalm 119:71.Google Scholar
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.Google Scholar
Lewis, C.S., The Problem of Pain (New York: Macmillan, 1943): At 168.Google Scholar
2 Corinthians 12:7–10.Google Scholar
Verhey, A., “Choosing Death: The Ethics of Assisted Suicide,” Christian Century, July 17–24, 1996, at 716–19.Google Scholar
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.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
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.Google Scholar
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).Google Scholar
Miller, R.J., “Hospice Care as an Alternative to Euthanasia,” Law, Medicine & Health Care, 20 (1992): 127-32.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Callahan, D., “When Self-Determination Runs Amok,” Hastings Center Report, 22, no. 2 (1992): 52–55.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
See Brock, , supra note 11, at 20.Google Scholar
Bouma, H.et al, Christian Faith, Health, and Medical Practice (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1989): At 300.Google Scholar
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.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tousignant, M. Davis, P., “Nursing Homes in Area, Nationwide Plagued by Reports of Abuse,” Washington Post, Oct. 13, 1996, at B1.Google Scholar
Romans 14:7.Google Scholar
See General Synod Board for Social Responsibility, supra note 10, at 11.Google Scholar
Wennberg, R.N., Terminal Choices: Euthanasia, Suicide, and the Right to Die (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1989): At 86–87.Google Scholar
Treatment and the Care of the Dying (Bloomington: Indiana University, 1987).Google Scholar
Sedgwick, T., “Introduction,” in Sedgwick, T. Turner, P., eds., The Crisis in Moral Teaching in the Episcopal Church (Harrisburg: Morehouse, 1992): At 9–10.Google Scholar
See Kirk, , supra note 9, at 79.Google Scholar
Id. at 33.Google Scholar
See Campbell, , supra note 2, at 275.Google Scholar
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).Google Scholar