By now we are probably all familiar with the case of Brittany Maynard, a 29 year old from California stricken with terminal brain cancer who shared her decision to end her life in many high profile media interviews. In order to end her life, Maynard and her husband relocated to Oregon, where doctor prescribed suicide is legal.
Maynard’s cancer is a painful reminder of how fragile life can be. She was an intelligent and vibrant young woman, filled with love and adventure, wanting to start a family. However, her choice to end her life has reopened a national debate about Doctor Prescribed Suicide. With the short journey to end her life, Brittany Maynard became the marketing sweetheart for the right to die.
Compassion & Choices, formerly known as the Hemlock Society, has been advocating for Doctor Prescribed Suicide for over a decade, using euphemisms such as “aid in dying” or “dying with dignity.” Although only four states – Oregon, Washington, Vermont and Montana – have legalized assisted suicide, supporters are hoping to pass bills in a dozen states this year, taking advantage of Brittany Maynard’s high profile case and our compassion for those who suffer.
California has long been in the sights of the assisted suicide movement. In 1994, Compassion & Choices sponsored a ballot initiative in California which was voted down. Since then there have been three attempts to pass legislation in California. They have all been defeated thanks in part to the advocacy work of Californians against Assisted Suicide, a group that includes nurses, doctors, disability advocacy groups, ethnic communities and faith-based organizations, including the Catholic Bishops of California.
But on January 21, State Senators Bill Monning and Lois Wolk introduced the End of Life Options Act (SB 128), another bill that would legalize Doctor Prescribed Suicide in California.
As a health care practice this would place the most vulnerable in our society: the poor, the immigrant and the disabled, in danger of being marginalized in a culture that strives for individualism and personal autonomy. It is a slippery slope that devalues anybody that might no longer be deemed an able contributor to society.
Take the case of Barbara Wagner in Oregon. According to a report on ABCNews.com, when her doctor prescribed her a chemotherapy drug that might extend her life, she received a letter from her Oregon Health Plan rejecting the authorization of the drug, because it did not meet the “five year, five percent rule. However the plan did agree to cover a drug to end her life.
Deacon John Barna, Director of Catholic Cemeteries for the Diocese of San Bernardino is deeply troubled by this issue.
“I believe wanting to end your life is about the fear of being abandoned,” he said. “I’ve seen more and more people abandoning their loved ones in assisted living or nursing homes. Our society will be judged by how we treat people throughout life. We all have to step up to the plate so nobody dies alone.”
In 2011, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops issued the document “To Life Each Day With Dignity.” It addressed the fear most of us have about losing control of our autonomy and becoming a burden to our families. “To live in a manner worthy of our human dignity and to spend our final days on this earth in peace and comfort, surrounded by loved ones – that is the hope of each of us,” the bishops said in the document.
High profile cases such as Brittany Maynard can overshadow other patients in a similar situation who have made a different choice.
Philip Johnson, a 30-year-old Catholic seminarian from the Diocese of Raleigh. North Carolina also has terminal brain cancer called Anaplastic Astrocytoma, with a median survival time of 18 months. He was diagnosed at age 24 during his second Navy deployment to the Northern Arabian Gulf and has already outlived his prognosis by several years. He too does not want to suffer and wishes the cancer would go away but understands how the actions of a person such as taking one’s own life affects others.
In an article he wrote for the Diocese of Raleigh publication, NC Catholics, he states, “My illness has become a part of me, and while it does not define me as a person, it has shaped who I am and who I will become.”
Doctor Prescribed Suicide might appear on the surface as an individual choice to protect one’s autonomy, but as seen in Oregon, it can become more about saving costs than saving lives. Thousands of people with disabilities who depend on personal assistance every day teach us the meaning of true dignity and to participate in their care as members of the human family is an act of faith.
The media attention on Doctor Prescribed Suicide serves as an opportunity for Catholics to have a conversation about all end of life issues. Do we have an Advanced Directive and who will be our healthcare proxy if deemed necessary? What is the difference between proportionate and disproportionate care and how do we chose the best comfort care (Hospice)?
The California Catholic Conference has a special section of its web site at www.cacatholic.org called “Embracing Our Dying,” to help us discern end of life decisions. After all, the process of death, as difficult as it might be, is the transition into an everlasting life with our God.
Mary Huber is the Associate Director of Pro Life Catholic Ministries for the Diocese of San Bernardino.