7 tips on talking about death

Conversation about assisted suicide, dying with dignity and euthanasia is likely to hot up this summer, as BBC2 prepares to air a new series on the subject.

The problem with a Christian view on this subject, as with homosexuality, is that our answers can seem to lack compassion. We look like the bad guys who are voting for pain. To deny desperately ill people with no hope of recovery an escape from their torture looks like hard-hearted cruelty. And of course, the promoters wring every last drop of emotion from the stories they tell of the lovely release from pain that a trip to Dr Death can give them. And then there are the celebs...

Popular author Terry Pratchett, who was diagnosed with Alzheimer's recently, will be interviewed in the programme. Everyone loves Terry for his wit and humour. And now Shakespearian actor Patrick Stewart of Star Trek fame has become a patron and campaigner for Dying with DIgnity.

For Christians, this is an area of concern for many reasons. But it is also a discussion where we can easily look alarmist, uncaring or bigoted.

So here's my attempt at seven things to say on the subject cast in a more positive frame:

1. It's bad news for doctors. Their hippocratic oath commits them to "do no harm." Their job in any circumstance is clear and easy. Their role is to preserve life, not destroy it. To involve them with "another option" is simply unfair to them. Ask back - why do you think that every single one of the medical Royal Colleges voted unanimously to reject the proposals last time they came round? Because doctors will be the ones asked to perform the injection - and they just don't want to be involved.
   
   
2. It's unfair to the weak and vulnerable: many of whom already carry a vast burden of guilt that they are a burden to others. Giving them this option will inevitably encourage some to take it.
   
   
3. It encourages greed from relatives. Anyone who has had a relative die, and been involved in family arguments about the will knows how tortuous these things can be. People appear out of the woodwork when there is the possibility of a cash handout. Family relationships are strained. Legalised suicide will move this process back a step when someone is alive, leading to people being encouraged to take the option.
   
   
4. It denies the real possibility of medical advance: It is curious that this has become more of an issue when almost daily there are reports of breakthroughs in the treatment and prevention of Alzheimer's or heart disease or cancer. How dreadful to pull the plug on dear Uncle Eric, and then discover two months later that his "incurable disease" has suddenly become less than terminal...
   
   
5. It assumes that we can make good choices. Who draws the line? Who decides what quality of life is? Who decides what My friend Gerald who lives a life of struggle with Cerebral Palsy would no doubt not have been born today, but loves his life, and has a rich life in his mind. As Christians, we would want to say that only the Lord has the wisdom to make such decisions, because no one else can see the totallity of the circumstances.
   
   
6. Emotive cases make bad laws. Of course the pro lobby holds up cases where it seems the compassionate thing is to allow them to die. Our hearts bleed for them. But a law would be applied to everyone - including the growing millions of aged people where the issues are so much less clear.
   
   
7. Check out the track record of Holland, Oregon and Switzerland. These are all places where assisted suicide is legal, and they are often held up as fine examples. Despite the hype, just googling on this will throw up ghastly horror stories, like the Oregon woman diagnosed with terminal cancer who was denied treatment but was offered the funding to pay for suicide.
   
   

However we talk about this issue, we need to get across the commitment of our God to the poor and vulnerable, to the weak and helpless. Christians are in the forefront of caring for the ill and dying, and for the sake of a "choice" for the few who may be strong minded about this issue, it is simply not fair to push the many into the situation where they are open to manipulation, abuse, and mental torture, when they should be cared for, nurtured and loved.