Although we named our company Texas Hospice, during the name-choosing process, we considered using the word dignity.
I like many of the meanings within that word, such as, humans have a value that is higher than other living things. And, some ideas naturally follow, such as, we all know that it is a good thing for a person to have their symptoms controlled when they are dying (see J. Budziszewski, “There are some things we can’t not know”).
But there are those among us who connect the word to physician-assisted suicide. The phrase “death with dignity” now connotates a justification for purposefully prematurely ending a human’s life.
That assisted suicide is not good for us as a community I think is a natural human response. That it is a supremely self-centered (think “alone”) act is undeniable.
Those of us involved in hospice care know that only rarely is the medical/spiritual team unable to control symptoms. In fact, I’ve yet to be involved in a hospice case where the patient suffered uncontrollably despite our best efforts.
But there is something deeper and more important here to discuss and to cause us to pause. It goes to who we are, or, better put, “what does it mean to be human? ”
- Is the human situation really one of despair and aloneness?
- Is there a fence around the snuffing out suffering arguments, or do we limit their application of death by assisted suicide to the aged and infirmed?
- Is assisted suicide an appropriate option for the profoundly depressed teenager?
Taken to its extreme, the logic of suicide proponents delivers a strong message to anyone experiencing pain: there is no meaning in your suffering, and, ultimately, you are alone.
But consider the sublime message of Jesus of Nazareth, communicated through his life, his healing, his mirth, and his torture and execution. It is that we are not alone, and that there is deep meaning within our suffering.
Jesus, with all of us, is a like sufferer who cries out to the Father. His God-human existence screams of the deep meaning in our being human, and, that in our living, suffering and dying, the Father does more than dispassionately observe us. He, who is love, who prepares for us a place, brings us to Himself.
I have heard Brennan Manning quote what one sufferer heard from God, “I know you, I am for you, and I love you” (If you want to know God, you should listen to someone who knows God. You-tube Brennan Manning).
No, we are not alone. And again no, we do not lose our dignity if we option out of assisted suicide. What is undignified is broadcasting the lie of alone-ness and meaninglessness.
