Any priest worth his salt has accompanied a good number of people during their final days on this Earth. And over these decades of ministry we learn a few things about the end of life. Here’s one of those: people dying almost always want to have their lives valued and to die with the explicit support of a loving community around them.
As a patient with terminal cancer recently told me, “I tell the Lord I’m ready to go. But, here surrounded by family and friends, with pasta every night, with a good red wine, I don’t mind waiting a little bit longer.”
Though we can always do better as a Church, I’m so proud of the number of times we step up in this way. In particular, I’m grateful for Calvary Hospital and Hospice Center in the Bronx. Dr. Michael Brescia, he of happy memory and former director of Calvary, would often recount how proud he was of the way we took care of the dying — and would often emphasize that no one served by his hospital ever asked for anything like physician-assisted suicide (PAS). Their lives were valued, their pain managed, and they had the support of a loving community around them.
As misguided legislators and well-funded activists once again try to legalize PAS in New York, we rightly go once again to our tried-and-true responses. Sure, the disability rights community finds claims about the (dis)value of certain kinds of lives threatening. Yes, the example of our friends in Canada demonstrates that there would soon be powerful social pressure for the poor and otherwise “burdensome” New Yorkers to ask to be killed. Yes, communities of color — who have good reason to be distrustful of the medical field at the end of life — are broadly resistant to PAS.
These all remain powerful arguments and good reasons for the legislation to be defeated.
But maybe the most important thing to realize is that the image many have when thinking about the attraction of PAS is of a person wracked with physical pain at the end of their lives. This is a scary situation for anyone to consider and may draw one to consider legalizing the practice.
Experts tell us that physical pain is not the primary reason why people request PAS. The main reasons are fear of being a burden on others, anxiety over loss of autonomy, and worry about the disappearance of enjoyable activities. What a terrible thing to legalize and recommend suicide in these situations!
This is a classic example of what Pope Francis calls our “throw away” culture. Instead of loving people who have these feelings and vulnerabilities, legalized assisted suicide sends a clear message: “Sure, we can understand why you would want to get out of the way. How practical! Here, let us help you get rid of your burdensome self.”
But as the very different example of Calvary Hospital reminds us, when the dying are loved — when the dying are valued — when the dying are supported in community — there is no thought of ending one’s life. On the contrary, the fear of being a burden or losing one’s autonomy melts away into relationships in which dependence is not something to be avoided, but rather embraced as gestures of love.
Happily, this message is starting to break through. For the ninth year in a row, a deep blue state like Maryland rejected legalizing PAS. A similar story is true of equally blue Connecticut, which failed to pass it for the 12th year in a row and, indeed, failed to even bring it up for a vote! Virginia also just rejected physician-assisted suicide.
A few months ago the American Medical Association once again stood strong against attempts by some members to accept PAS. This admirably strong language remains in their code of ethics: “Physician-assisted suicide is fundamentally incompatible with the physician’s role as healer, would be difficult or impossible to control, and would pose serious societal risks.”
Yes, our activist opponents on this topic are well-funded and persistent. They tell misleading stories designed to scare us. But New York, precisely because of our values related to care for the most vulnerable in our society, should continue to reject physician-assisted suicide.
When we do say no, know that the Catholic Church in our great state stands ready to value the lives of the dying and surround them with the loving care of a community that embraces them as equal in value to every other human being made in the image and likeness of our Creator.
Dolan is archbishop of the Archdiocese of New York.
