Let me first express my sadness over the death of Lecretia
Seales. She was clearly a fine women who contributed greatly to society and
then showed immense courage not only in facing a terminal illness, but with
taking legal action concerning the end of her life. Whatever one thinks of the
cause, her bravery is amazing. I know what it is like to lose loved ones way
too early, and my condolences go out to all concerned. Nothing in this blog is
personal to her, may the Lord bless all those connected.
With that said, and not wishing to speak ill in any way of
her, I find the whole thing strange. Her case began on Monday 25 May. Her
desire was that her doctor could help her die, but then not face charges for
doing so. The case lasted two days, until Wednesday 27 May. The
judge Justin David Collins reserved his ruling but stated he would work through
the Queen’s Birthday Weekend to come to a ruling. Clearly, there was a good
possibility that she would die very soon anyway. As it turned out, he made his
ruling on Thursday 4 June, about a week after the trial, and early the next morning,
Friday 5 June, she died of natural causes. When I heard of her death, reading between the lines, the
ruling must have gone against her. This was confirmed on Friday.
I find the whole thing a little strange. First, Lecretia was clearly
capable of taking her own life in the weeks leading up to the trial. She appeared
on TV during the period of the trial and was clearly sufficiently well to do so. I am
not sure why she needed help to do it. I think suicide is a wrong option, but I
understand people doing it. I don't condemn those who do, God is the one who decides. So, if she wanted to take her own life, I am not
sure why she didn’t go ahead and do it? There are countless ways of doing so. Indeed, people do it all the time. I
am intrigued that people in such a situation want to bring others into the
process.
Secondly, if Lecretia was so close to dying and was receiving
palliative care (as is reported), why go to court to accelerate something that
was coming soon anyway? And why the rush to make a ruling? After all, she was
nearly at the point of death.
Thirdly, if the law was applied, it was absolutely certain
her desire that her doctor be free of culpability if he helped her take her
life would fail. So, with the time frame in mind, why the whole thing?
With all this in mind, it seems to me that, despite the
denials from some in her family, the whole thing was carefully orchestrated to
get euthanasia back on Parliament’s agenda. The whole thing was political from those closely involved including the doctor and judiciary.
I remain implacably against euthanasia in the sense that one
person actively takes another person’s life or facilitates another person doing
it. Passive euthanasia is appropriate—making a person comfortable at their end.
There is also a time to switch of the machines and stop the treatment. I should
know, I have been involved in three such situations in our family. They are
tough and horrible, but sometimes the treatment is no longer bringing healing
but hindering what is clear—it is time for a person to die. So, you do not take their life, but stop hindering their death and make them comfortable as they die. But to actively
take another’s life directly or as an accessory is another thing. This is a form of murder.
In this case it seems to me that the person in mind did not need
assistance. As is most often the case in such situations, she had ample opportunity
to hasten her own death or allow nature to take its course as it did.
I hope NZ does not go down the track of allowing active
euthanasia. I don’t think we should have a referendum on it, such things are not
decided by democracy. If the legislation needs updating, we should update it.
However, we should not allow active euthanasia, it will create a huge raft of
problems. We already kill enough unborn children, let’s not give ourselves the
pretext to kill the disabled, terminally ill, and elderly. Rather, we should
care for them until their time comes. Or do we lack the courage and time to do
this?
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