On a practical level, several things are
being done to engage Canadian society in
the battle against euthanasia. Larry Worth-
en of the Christian Medical and Dental
Society is busy making presentations to
educate medical students, doctors and
churches, particularly in eastern Canada.
Nuala Kenny continues to present her
findings that most requests for physician-
assisted deaths are due to psychological
and emotional reasons rather than physic-
al pain. Alongside the EFC's interven-
tion in the appeal of the Carter case, the
Euthanasia Prevention Coalition and the
Christian Legal Fellowship are also set to
intervene.
Dr. John Patrick, a retired Ottawa phys-
ician and educator, is calling for medical
students and physicians to take the Hip-
pocratic Oath seriously once again. Society
is in danger of having physicians with no
moral integrity, he says, and there needs to
be provision for those who wish to follow
the Hippocratic principles of doing no harm.
“Our society has lost its moral consen-
sus and cannot therefore agree on the kind
of medical care to provide, nor the ethical
basis of medical care,” he says. So Patrick
set up www.hippocraticregistry.com, and
he encourages physicians to join. Further,
he suggests forming groups of physicians
and medical students who will take the
Hippocratic Oath, a practice already fol-
lowed by some medical practitioners.
But while the battle is being waged in
the public sphere, there are still things
Christians can do to ensure no one has to
feel abandoned at death.
“The biggest thing we need to do in
Debra FIeGu TH of Kingston, Ont., is a
senior writer at Faith Today.
Clockwise from top left: margaret Cottle, Larry worthen and alex Schadenberg. There are still things Christians can do to ensure no one has to feel abandoned at death.
(The EFC intervened in the Rodriguez
case, and its arguments formed a key part
of the court’s decision in recognizing the
value Canadians place on the “sanctity of
life” in understanding the “right to life”
mentioned in section seven of the Charter
of Rights and Freedoms.)
But Rodriguez was wrong in assum-
ing her life was her own, says Cottle. “The
Christian knows it’s God’s life.”
Responding to the issues requires some
careful approaches for Christian profes-
sionals. “Faith-based arguments are dis-
missed” in the public square, says Kenny,
who moves in both the secular and reli-
gious worlds. The ethics and health policy
advisor to the Catholic Health Alliance
of Canada has always worked in secular
rather than Catholic institutions. “We need
to make these arguments more generally
accessible,” she says.
Cottle agrees. “We have to learn how to
speak into our own culture in ways that
they can understand. If we just say, ‘The
Bible says not to kill,’ they don’t really care.”
PHOTO: SUSAN SCHADENBERG SUPPLIED PHOTO
SUPPLIED PHOTO
One way is to point out the discrep-
ancies in our society. Kenny and Cottle
both mention capital punishment as an
example. “We do not allow the death pen-
alty in this country, and we’re proud of this
fact,” says Kenny, a naturalized Canadian
who came here from the United States,
“partly because of the ethical underpin-
nings of the Canadian system.”
Why then, if “we don’t even allow kill-
ing of people who are hardened crimin-
als,” asks Kenny, would we want people
to die because they experience emotional
and psychological suffering?
“We have a very intricately balanced
ecosystem of compassion and caring
for one another,” says Cottle. If a patient
wants a physician-assisted death, that eco-
system is disrupted. A doctor has to make
the death happen, “and we all have to par-
ticipate in it – which is why we voted out
capital punishment.”
churches is get the theology of suffering
figured out,” says Margaret Cottle. “We live
in a fallen world. Suffering is something
that is going to come to us.” Sometimes,
she says, all we can do is to follow what
Mary did at the foot of Jesus’ cross. “All
she did was stand there and bear witness.”
“The Christian community has to real-
ize that there’s an importance of being
with the ‘other,’ ” adds Alex Schadenberg.
Visiting those who are sick, especially if
they are alone, is an important ministry. “If
there are people who actually care about
you, you are fairly more likely to say that
my life does have value,” he notes.
