The Guardian "The Question" Series: Do we have a right to death?

Check out the 4 responses and see what you think.

Posted in * Christian Life / Church Life, * Culture-Watch, Death / Burial / Funerals, Ethics / Moral Theology, Health & Medicine, Life Ethics, Parish Ministry, Theology

4 comments on “The Guardian "The Question" Series: Do we have a right to death?

  1. robroy says:

    Can we waive that “right”?

    What bugs me about the debate is that the “physician assisted suicide” is actually patient authorized murder committed by physicians. There is a stigma against committing suicide but not one for being killed and the later is what a lot of the Hemlock society types want. I have no problems withdrawing active interventions that prolong life, and tube feedings are active interventions. I will never actively cause death. John Patrick is a Canadian physician and much requested speaker at Christian Medical Association meetings in Canada and the States. He and other have formed the [url=http://www.johnpatrick.ca/CRHP.htm ]Canadian Registry of Hippocratic Practitioners[/url], an organization that probably needs to be repeated in Britain and the States.

  2. DonGander says:

    I’m beginning to feel that there are no wrong questions but there are plenty of inappropriate ones. For instance;

    Does God love us unconditionally? I’ve heard good and bad argument both ways on that but it was only recently that I realized that by far the most vital question was, “Do I love God unconditionally?”

    That one’s got traction.

    So, too, I think that the question, “Do we have a right to death?” is not the question to ask. The most salient questions will always be questions about God’s purpose and the meaning of our life.

    Satan was a murderer from the beginning – I don’t want to go there.

    Don

  3. Sarah says:

    RE: “He and other have formed the Canadian Registry of Hippocratic Practitioners, an organization that probably needs to be repeated in Britain and the States.”

    Word to robroy — maybe you should band with others to create such an organization! It will turn into a great marketing tool — for one thing, I want a list of physicians who won’t do abortions and [i]won’t serve in a private practice with others who do abortions.[/i]

  4. Country Doc says:

    As usual, Rob Roy is correct. The medical profession ethically is bound not to kill off patients. There is a registry of physicians and Patrick’s site is full of great information, but I can’t find a listing for the public there. http://www.hippocraticregistry.com/index.html
    Christian Medical Association has as it’s ethics for membership this strong position. I think there are 40,000 members, so any of them would be anti death. Check with them. I agree that there needs to be a better way for the public to identify such doctors, but probably there is a problem with spam and overwhelming computer terrorism if such a list existed. I don’t know. I am registerd with the site.