Sister Elizabeth John of the Dolgellau Carmel concludes her study of the rise in support for assisted suicide
Status of Assisted Suicide
The status of medically assisted dying has changed dramatically in the last twenty-six years. Switzerland permitted it before 1997. As of October 2022, it is legal in ten countries and parts of the USA: Switzerland (since 1942, but mostly from the 1980s), the Netherlands and Belgium (2002), Luxembourg (2009), Colombia (2014), Canada (2016), Austria, New Zealand, and Spain (2021), Australia (2022), plus twenty-two states or districts in the US. In 2023, medically-assisted dying was legalised in Portugal, but assisted suicide and euthanasia remain illegal. It is still being debated in Germany, France and Scotland.
(In memory of David, Jeremy Stanley and Walter)
A Historical Study: The Moral Problem of ‘Assisted Dying’
This article is an exploration of some of the issues around suicide, euthanasia, and assisted suicide, based on an essay submitted in 2023 for the philosophy element of the Teresianum’s Online Certificate in Spiritual Theology.[1] It is not intended as a comprehensive summary of arguments for or against assisted suicide.
Terminology
Assisted Suicide: An individual is provided
with a fatal drug and has to be capable of administering it themselves.
PAD: Physician or clinician-assisted death-
involves a trained professional administering the drug for the patient.
Euthanasia: Encompasses both of the above
but sometimes has subliminal echoes and references, including what we usually
do with our dying pets.[2]
Medical Assistance in Dying
(MAID): The
term, adopted in Canadian legislation, can include self or
physician-administered situations and simply describes what it is.
Those in favour tend to use the term ‘Assisted Dying’, whereas those against refer to ‘Assisted Suicide’.
by Father Ian Dalgleish Photograph: ‘Damage in the Gaza Strip during October 2023 ’ by Al Araby Earlier in September, in connection with a...
