Saturday, January 8, 2011

No, Helping Someone Kill Themselves Is NOT, EVER, A Loving Act


Well, I posted this story yesterday, and, predictably, the hair-splitting begins. See, the media can always find someone who will say, well, yeah, helping someone kill themselves can actually be a loving act. I don’t buy it, never will. Love is all about care, cherishing, commitment, and the preciousness and uniqueness of human life.
In Alleged Assisted Suicide, A Question Of Ethics
Stephen Latham can understand why Bruce Brodigan might have been motivated to help his father end his life, as police have alleged, but said George D. Brodigan's suicide raises ethical questions
Helping someone commit suicide can be a selfish act, or it can be done out of love, said Latham, a medical ethicist at Yale University. And helping someone with a mentally disabling condition like Alzheimer's disease, as in George Brodigan's death, creates those complex ethical issues.
George Brodigan, a prominent retired lawyer, died Sept. 14 at his Timberwood Road home with a half-filled bottle of Mount Gay rum and a copy of Derek Humphry's "Final Exit," a guide to ending one's life, at his bedside. Yellow pills were found underneath his body. more

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