Last week UK newspaper headlines ran the story of a man who killed himself in a clinic in Switzerland because he was afraid of becoming paralysed. Mr Spector was diagnosed with a tumour near the spine and had been told that this was possible. Although he had not yet experienced any neurological problems, he “could not contemplate a future as a quadriplegic” and “wanted to be in control of the final stages of my life”. Mr Spector said he was “exercising his human right to dignity”

 

How is it that we have reached a situation that we would rather kill ourselves than face uncertainty?  It is a gradual change in how society thinks, that is the result of  a progressive loss of spirituality and faith and an increase of the “I want…I can.. . .therefore I do” mentality. Rather than “ought I to do?”  We now consider it a “right” to assert our freedom to choose what we do.

 

To want assisted suicide is to want absolute control over death which only God has. This perceived “freedom” is not freedom at all but enslavement to the bodies’ need for control. It does not bring dignity to the person which only comes from accepting death however it comes. True freedom is in the choosing what is spiritually right for us. Assisted suicide is a complete rejection of both modern medicine and of God and if accepted is likely to be extremely damaging to society and spiritually damaging to the individual

 

Dr Patrick Pullicino