Whose life is it?
In its compelling editorial of Nov. 5, The Almanac calls attention to the sad story of beautiful, young Oregon resident and wife, Brittany Maynard, who used that state’s assisted suicide law to end her pain amidst a grueling case of terminal cancer. The column appropriately notes the suffering that she endured after contracting a cruel disease and that with which her family now deals in the aftermath of her death.
Sadly, the anguish for those who survive her has been intensified by the loathsome and callous statements of a self-appointed moral arbiter, the head of the Vatican’s bioethics unit, who used the family’s time of grief to pour salt in their wounds, characterizing the actions of Miss Maynard as “reprehensible,” “worthy of condemnation” and asserting that “dignity is something other than putting an end to one’s own life.”
A spokesperson for the Pennsylvania Catholic Conference has responded to legislation to allow for the practice here, saying, “Assisted suicide … is immoral … Life is worth something at every stage. We should give people the chance to have … fond farewells in a way that respects the natural order.”
To both of these moral arbiters, I would respond, “Says who?” and to paraphrase a popular television show, “Whose life is it anyway?”
Those who believe that it is God’s will that the end of their lives leaves them in excruciating pain and without dignity have every right to suffer. I would never try to interfere in their decision to “live” even when there is little or no quality of life remaining, but they have no right to tell me or anyone else what we is right for us, what type of death is appropriate for all. A truly free society rejects such meddling.
Oren Spiegler
Upper St. Clair