There are many topics which can energize the conversation over coffee at the diner. Politics, religion, abortion, taxes, sports.... The list is long and easily accessed. One of the terms which appears on that list is euthanasia, commonly known in society as mercy killing. Just mention the topic and then stand back as large quantities of emotion emerge...from many angles.
There are those who are opposed vehemently to the idea. It may be a direct connect to their spiritual or religious beliefs, or it may be a political issue. The idea that someone intentionally would participate in the ending of life of an individual does not compute for them.
On the other hand, there are those who feel just as strongly that euthanasia is a compassionate act, relieving pain and suffering and allowing a patient to slip away into imminent, unavoidable death. I suspect there are a large number of people who find themselves someplace in the middle of the discussion.
Many progressive nations have legalized euthanasia and it is on the ballot regularly in some states in the United States. Oregon was the first state to provide for euthanasia and the result of that legalization has become a laboratory for the rest of the nation. Many would say that it has been a quiet revolution in that state, not garnering a great deal of media space over the years, but constantly under scrutiny by those who have strong feelings about it.
Some who oppose the practice in principle find themselves changing their opinions when the patient is a loved one struggling with a painful existence in the weeks prior to death. Palliative care is a benign medical practice in which the goal is to make the patient as comfortable as possible, still allowing them to participate in family decisions and medical decisions regarding their own well-being. It can involve massive dosages of pain-killers and other drugs which mask the difficult symptoms. Palliative care can be a partner to Hospice care, which also seeks to make the dying process a more positive time in the life of a terminally-ill patient.
But euthanasia is a step beyond either of those practices, calling for the intentional injection of a drug by a medical professional which arrests the body's systems of life. Death is the result, sometimes immediately. When palliative care is not capable of covering the pain and suffering of a dying patient, families and loved ones find themselves struggling to justify the continuance of agony when the possibility of peace for the dying patient is available.
Obviously, euthanasia is more than a medical issue. It involves difficult moral and ethical decisions which reach deeply into the religious fabric of those charged with decision-making. The balance between compassion and religious values can be more complex than it seems as if it should be.
Picture credit: stockpohoto.com
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