Deuteronomy 30:19 This day, I call upon the heaven and the earth as witnesses [that I have warned] you: I have set before you life and death, the blessing and the curse. You shall choose life, so that you and your offspring will live
There is a discussion taking place about death. What is it? When is one dead? Who decides if one is dead?
Are doctors required to take into account religious beliefs regarding death-or is it blanket neurological criteria?
Why does it matter who shall live and who shall die?
Doctors have made the argument that despite the lack of a fixed legal definition, in practice, neurological death is “death at law in Ontario.”
Definitions of when life ends need to be applied uniformly, it said in a legal document containing their arguments. Anything else “would create massive uncertainty medically, legally and socially.”
As for his religious freedom, ‘charter rights and freedoms are only enjoyed by living persons,’ the document says.” Is this not a tautological argument?
Kerry Bowman, a professor of bioethics at the University of Toronto said that while Canadian law accepts brain death as an absolute declaration of death where two physicians are involved in the declaration, many other parts of the world, such as the Far East, would disagree with the concept.
“Whether that threshold meets everyone’s criteria of death is an open question.”
“It’s ‘I think, therefore I am,’ which is a very Western philosophical concept,” said Bowman, who added that people who are brain dead have been pregnant.
“It’s a fair question: ‘How dead can you be if you’re pregnant?’
It matters because we are fast moving from a culture firmly rooted in the idea that all life is sacred and that all people are born with equal intrinsic value, that being is enough to value life, to a society that encourages death. And we are not discouraging these deaths because of the concept of organ donation.
We have unfettered abortion. Any time for any reason; and that includes sex selection abortion-femicide- because the woman says so. And why not?
Planned Parenthood has developed a system of aborting later term fetuses so that they can save the organs-to sell them. Is the fetus really dead? Has the heart stopped beating?
Do they feel pain? This is important. There was a time when newborns had surgery without anaesthetic. It was believed that newborns did not feel pain. Their pain receptors were not fully developed. We know that is not true. What about a fetus? At what stage does a fetus feel pain? And what we know today, is it not possible that it will change tomorrow as did the views on pain in new born babies?
Here is a link to 12 videos about harvesting fetal baby parts.
Now we have discussion at the end of life. Who shall live and who shall die? How long do you have to be on a respirator before declared brain dead? And what exactly is brain death? And will the definition change as we learn more? And why can’t families ask that their loved ones be declared dead when they stop breathing rather than when the brain seems to have shut down? And how did we get to a place where we encourage the removal of life support because there is a bed shortage? Or because it costs too much to keep that person in the bed.
So now we are deciding on the financial value of a human being.
And then there is the death with dignity contingent.
Death with dignity. What a perversion of language. Author Lawrence Hill wrote a piece about the planned death of his mother. The family had to fly to Switzerland because Canada would not agree with her wish for the state to kill her. She did not fit the criteria. I have no doubt the criteria will change to make room for more people to have the state kill them. The right to abortion opened up.
This is a photo of his mother Donna Mae Hill ten minutes before Switzerland killed her.
Globe and Mail
Where is the dignity in suicide? Where is the dignity in having the state take your life? If a teenager shares feeling of helplessness and hopelessness of being a burden, do we say, hay, go for it; end your life?
What are we teaching our children and grandchildren when we let them see us end our lives; suicide, in the name of dignity? This is nothing but suicide, wanting to end it all. Feeling like a burden. Not wanting to be a burden. We don’t let young people end their lives if they feel this way. But it is dignifying to let the elderly and the infirm and the disabled to end their lives. How did we get to such a sick place in a culture that above all values the sanctity of life?
How? Because we walked away from the ethic of life. We walked into a world of entitlement and right and no responsibility–to self or other.
I remember when my mother was getting on. She looked at me one day and said she worried that she would be a burden. That she was a burden. Who wants to be a burden? So I looked at her, smiled and said well Mom you are a burden. And told her I had been a burden for some years when she raised me. And then she took me in when I needed s safe place. So why are children allowed to be “burdensome” in need of care, unable to care for themselves, but elderly people are not?
If we applaud death with dignity, how long will it take before elderly or chronically ill people pick up the vibe and feel the need to die?
And what if we incentivize doctors to take their lives? By increasing the fees we pay them? Let’s take a look at British Columbia Canada. An insufficient number of doctors were offering this kindness; until they were paid more to do it. So it isn’t if it happens or when, it’s a question of how much.
Should we pay for the state to kill people but not have enough money to help our veterans who are committing suicide because of PTSD and a lack of funds for their care?
And what about organ donation? Will people be made to feel that they should remove their loved ones from life support because the organs are needed by others? Are the others more valuable than the one in the bed? Are their families more important than the families standing by the bed of their loved one?
Medical assistance in dying, or MAID, has been legal in Canada since July 1, 2016. Since then, some of those opting for assisted dying have also donated organs and tissues for transplant, but the numbers are small. People who have chosen to die with medical assistance are often the best candidates for donation.
“Organs are more complicated. Some people who donate organs are “brain dead” which means they have irreversibly lost brain function. They’re kept alive on a ventilator, and their organs are removed just before they’re taken off of the ventilator. All others undergo what is called “donation after cardiac death” which involves taking people off a ventilator and waiting until the heart stops to remove the organs.
“The concern is whether people will feel pressured to die so they can donate their organs — or feel pressured to donate their organs so they can get MAID. That’s why these discussions are supposed to happen with different people from those handling the assisted dying procedure.”
Ethicist Kerry Bowman notes:
“People might think that they’re more a service to society by dying than by living, that would worry me…. The purity of the decision could become a bit clouded.”
Do you really think that won’t happen?
Did you ever think that the state would offer to kill you? Did you ever think that it would be just fine to abort a 7 month fetus and salvage the organs for sale?
Who shall live and who shall die?
From the Ethics of the Fathers: “Rabbi Tarfon used to say, it is not incumbent upon you to complete the task, but you are not exempt from undertaking it.”
