I wish to express my disappointment with Germany’s Federal Court of Justice for bringing back the ghost of Adolf Hitler and legalizing direct euthanasia.
Our present culture tends to consider suffering the epitome of evil. In such a culture there is a great temptation to resolve the problem of suffering by eliminating it at the root, by hastening death so that it occurs at the moment considered most suitable.
In Christian teaching suffering, especially suffering during the last moments of life, has a special place in God’s saving plan; it is in fact a sharing in Christ’s passion.
Intentionally causing one’s own death, or suicide, is murder because it is a rejection of God’s sovereignty and loving plan. It is a refusal of love for self, the denial of a natural instinct to live, a flight from the duties of justice and charity owed to one’s neighbor, to various communities or to the whole of society.
The pleas of gravely ill people who sometimes ask for death are not to be understood as implying a true desire for euthanasia; in fact, it is almost always a case of an anguished plea for help and love. True compassion leads to sharing another’s pain; it does not kill the person whose suffering we cannot bear. What a sick person needs, besides medical care, is love, the human and supernatural warmth with which the sick person can and ought to be surrounded by all those close to him or her, parents and children, doctors and nurses.
Unfortunately, their exists in contemporary culture a certain Promethean attitude which leads people to think that they can control life and death by taking the decisions about them into their own hands. What really happens in this case is that the individual is overcome and crushed by a death deprived of any prospect of meaning or hope.
Euthanasia is senseless and inhumane and should be opposed in all its forms.
With respectful and cordial best wishes, I remain,
Sincerely Yours,
Paul Kokoski.
Anyone who could compare euthanasia has no understanding of history. The genocidal Nazi regime is an eternal stain on the great German culture – consummate evil. Euthanasia in medical intervention which when performed by veterinarians is never questioned. The vast majority of people will not need euthanasia. I hope I won't. Most will experience natural with a “normal” amount of suffering and anxiety. We must all pass this way but once.
Many who rail against euthanasia have never managed the death of patients under their care. Kokoski no doubt falls in that category with his sentimentality. A FEW patients suffer extraordinary protracted pain without any realistic chance of recovery and still no relief from imminent death in sight. These are the few who require an active decision to withhold life-sustaining care and allow nature to take its course. The beloved Pontiff John Paul II did just that. Keep keep the patient comfortable. Poisoning – the active taking of life goes beyond euthanasia to mercy killing. It is a very, very fine line and each case is different. There are little things that doctors in the trenches do all the time to help the process along. Someone has to make the tough decisions. Those those who are fearful of their own mortality should let it go and stop getting all bent out of shape.
Sam Christian, MD
That you should perceive euthanasia in the same context as mass genocide escapes me. I infer from your article that a man suffering unbearable pain should be concerned about his duties to his neighbor to the extent that he should prolong his feeling of guilt until death. Dying has nothing to do with Christ and He said so himself – Let the dead bury their dead.
Kokoski you have not said anything here that would have me think you have understood the concept of euthanasia.You have just dispensed a generalization of you inclination which has clearly stated the why(s) etc in your position.Your statements are just blank religiously influenced. Go do some research get solid points and come again then and only then will I accept you more than just an individual who support one side of a discuss with stating any facts. Like they say locally wheel and come again, or better bring you position to the next level. Skerrit would do better in a debate lol!
ObamaCare has euthanasia in the bill.