The Pro-Death Need To Assail The Catholic Church

Here’s a pro-death piece masquerading as reasoned argument. I’m always fascinated at the levels of vitriol (in this case well disguised) hurled at the Roman Catholic Church for its stand against assisted suicide and euthanasia.

How the Catholic Church Misunderstands Death With Dignity

My father, a lifelong atheist, died at 91 in a Catholic hospice center. He received excellent, compassionate care from his nurses and from a doctor who willingly administered the morphine needed to ease his suffering -- although, she advised, it would hasten his death. Did she violate the doctrine of a church actively opposing a Death with Dignity proposal now on the ballot in Massachusetts?

The medical team was administering palliative care, not assisting in a suicide. According to a Church spokeswoman, "You can have whatever level of morphine you need to control the pain, even if that level of treatment hastens death." Palliative care is "legitimate," even when it risks "shortening life," Cardinal Sean O'Malley explains -- so long as "the intent is not to hasten death, but only to ease the pain of a dying patient." more