Author: Jack Bley
Original Post: June 25, 2024; Updated: June 27.
Our current governor and legislature have proposed legalizing “Physician Assisted Suicide” (PAS) here in Michigan. It is already legal in several other states, and the consequences for the medical and physical health of patients and their families is inconclusive—it is impossible to determine whether those who choose suicide with the help of a medical professional have made the best choice.
Because legalized suicide has not polled well in Michigan as memories of “Dr Death” Kevorkian linger, no action is expected on “Medical Assistance in Dying” (MAiD) until after the election. (The same holds for proposed legislation to eliminate parental consent for a minor’s abortion and MEDICAID funding of abortion and informed consent for women considering abortion. Such hypocrisy is expected of those who approve of partial birth abortion and of killing babies right up to full term.) Please take a moment and make sure you know what the proposed legislation will allow if passed. A few explanations are in order to help you make your decision.
“Choice” is the operative word here. It suggests “empowerment” with the same implications as occurs when a woman chooses to abort a preborn human—the death of that human—but in this case it also implies consent of the patient which, of course, is not allowed for the aborted baby. Empowerment, bodily autonomy, choice and enablement all sound like positive outcomes, but all come with much baggage that must be carried by the patient and the victim. And the victim’s survivors…
The more recently minted phrase “Medical Assistance in Dying” (MAiD) is an attempt to obscure “Physician Assisted Suicide” by removing the pejorative “suicide” from the process. Do not be confused; both are the same because both terms result in the patient’s presumably unencouraged and self-permitted death, the patient’s so-called “right to die.”
Another phrase which obscures this issue is “death with dignity,” but beware again at the manipulation of our language. You can put lipstick on a pig, but it is still a pig. The bottom line is that in pursuit of what some might believe is a greater good—normalization of death to avoid suffering—the value of life is cheapened. Again! Where does it end? Perhaps a rerun of the dystopian 1973 movie “Soylent Green” is in order? Or perhaps we should take heed that Pope John Paul II once described ours as a “culture of death.”
We must care for and be compassionate of those facing death. Direct support is available from the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline by calling or texting 988.
Jack Bley
Paw Paw
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