Part II – Euthanasia – Developing My Thinking On the Subject
Will the New Zealand Parliament legislate for law change concerning death by choice? If it does, will euthanasia ultimately end up, like divorce and abortion, as largely a form-filling exercise on relaxed grounds i.e. not just for terminally ill people?
That seems to be a big concern of some opponents and a practical modern-day, lesson we can’t afford to ignore about social legislation.
It is the elderly who are most at risk.
Richard A McCormick describes them (The Nathaniel Report, April 2015)as “shunted aside” and, “Not yet ready for the world of the dead [but] not deemed fit for the world of the living.”
He says, “We have learned how to increase their years, but we have not learned how to help them enjoy their lives.”
To avoid the need for the latter effort, euthanasia is seen as an easy way out by some people.
On the other hand, Dr John Kleinsman advises in a recent edition of the NZ Catholic: “Euthanasia and assisted suicide are unnecessary and, in the current toxic context, extremly dangerous. Be careful what you wish for”.
Some days (as an old person) I think modern society isn’t worth living in but, on others, I enjoy my life. So, theoretically, if I walked into a euthanasia clinic on the wrong day, say ten years from now, I might not live to regret it.
Harriet Rowland, a now deceased eighteen-year-old New Zealand Book Award finalist, is said by her father (in a recent edition of The Dominion Post) to have kept a “positive attitude” about her terminal illness. He thinks it is “a great message for people” that she didn’t just spend her remaining time on “being sick and having medical treatments” but blogged and became a published author.
Now that, is a life ending in dignity!
That seems to be a big concern of some opponents and a practical modern-day, lesson we can’t afford to ignore about social legislation.
It is the elderly who are most at risk.
Richard A McCormick describes them (The Nathaniel Report, April 2015)as “shunted aside” and, “Not yet ready for the world of the dead [but] not deemed fit for the world of the living.”
He says, “We have learned how to increase their years, but we have not learned how to help them enjoy their lives.”
To avoid the need for the latter effort, euthanasia is seen as an easy way out by some people.
On the other hand, Dr John Kleinsman advises in a recent edition of the NZ Catholic: “Euthanasia and assisted suicide are unnecessary and, in the current toxic context, extremly dangerous. Be careful what you wish for”.
Some days (as an old person) I think modern society isn’t worth living in but, on others, I enjoy my life. So, theoretically, if I walked into a euthanasia clinic on the wrong day, say ten years from now, I might not live to regret it.
Harriet Rowland, a now deceased eighteen-year-old New Zealand Book Award finalist, is said by her father (in a recent edition of The Dominion Post) to have kept a “positive attitude” about her terminal illness. He thinks it is “a great message for people” that she didn’t just spend her remaining time on “being sick and having medical treatments” but blogged and became a published author.
Now that, is a life ending in dignity!
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