Cancer - How Doctors Die (Part II - My View)

Did you read Part I?  If not, what the hell?  Go back and read it!  My goodness.... Cancer - How Doctor's Die (Part 1)

In Part I we read a letter by a doctor that was also the Clinical Assistant Professor of Family Medicine at USC (University of Southern California).  Basically the letter explained that doctors, for the most part, would rather go peacefully into death than to undergo all the chemo and radiation they put the common people through.  I don’t fault this.  They call it “the practice of medicine” for a reason, and they have to practice on someone.  The fact that they don’t want to undergo their own therapies is they know it probably won’t cure them and, in fact, the cure may be more painful and debilitating than the illness.

The first thing I thought about when I read this letter was suicide.  Not trying everything you can to extend your life is suicide.  Isn’t it?  If we just come to the end of our normal life span and expire, that isn’t suicide.  If cancer takes us early, that isn’t suicide.  So why is denying treatment to postpone the inevitable suicide?  It shouldn’t be.  Nor should physician assisted termination due to extreme pain and suffering be considered such.  My God, are we really intending the dying to be so masochistic?  I think not.

But, what of the biblical view?  What does the Bible and Christianity have offer?  I went online to get some other perspectives.

Early Catholicism considered suicide as murder and a mortal sin.  But only, “in the absence of circumstances that could mitigate the sinfulness of the act.”  This clarification is important, as the early theologians recognized the difference between toughing out a rough spot in life, and having to endure pain beyond all imagination until death, or personal sacrifice for the better good.

Modern Catholicism still considers it a serious sin.  The article I read quoted 2281 and 2325 of the Catechism:

“2281 – Suicide contradicts the natural inclination of the human being to preserve and perpetuate his life.  It is gravely contrary to the just love of self.  It likewise offends love of neighbor because it unjustly breaks the ties of solidarity with family, nation, and other human societies to which we continue to have obligations.  Suicide is contrary to love for the living God.”

"2325 - Suicide is seriously contrary to justice, hope, and charity. It is forbidden by the fifth commandment."

So by all means, suffer!  It is what your neighbors want.  It is what your family wants.  It is, God bless America, what your nation wants.  And, most importantly, it is what your God wants. 

Huh?  Really?  Let’s sell tickets to offset the hospital bills so everyone can file past the window and view grandpa as he suffers unto death.  Hey, we can make it like when we were born.  Put all the dying in a room with a big window so we can view them.  God forbid they have a moment’s peace after a tough life.  We could set up a bar and have parimutuel betting on who goes out first, and the families can get a cut of the bets.  Maybe there is a reality series in this (I’d better not say that too loudly…).

Note:  In 2325, above, I question how the 5th Commandment, "Honor thy father and thy mother," is relevant here.  I think this is a misprint and should be the 6th, "thou shalt not kill."

But, does this attitude religious scholars have subjected us to run contrary to the very phrases in the Bible these scholars would use to argue for it as a sin?

“Man’s days are determined; You have decreed the number of his months and have set limits he cannot exceed.” Job 14:5

“All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.” Psalm 139:16

So, if we accept that God knows all, and God has predetermined your days here, then God must be aware of when he had planned for you to commit suicide, for the mere fact that you have accomplished the task is proof that God knew it was to be.  You cannot stay your hand because God has decreed it to be so.  Is that right?  In so far as extending the life God decreed for you through artificial means, perhaps.  God really intended for doctors to extend your life so you could endure continual pain and suffering.  Perhaps suicide in this case is just correcting man’s affront to god’s will.

Personally, I like the early Christian view of suicide, “in the absence of circumstances that could mitigate the sinfulness of the act.”  Look, your wife left you and took the kids.  Get over it, or get even.  Why kill yourself and let her win (well, sort of…she won’t get the child support). 

The point is that, in most cases, the reason we want suicide is to escape a life lesson that God intends us to learn from.  I’ve been to that point in life.  Believe me when I tell you that, when you have reached the very bottom there is nowhere left to go but up or out.  If you, on your own, choose up instead of the alternative, chances are you will never look down again.  God did this for me and my life has blossomed ever since.

My conclusion?  I would say the doctors have it right.  I think they have chosen the higher path.  I would offer this path is God’s intent, to let life follow through to its preordained conclusion barring unforeseen circumstances.  It would seem to be the Christian thing to do, the humane thing to do, and perhaps the most dignified. 


Editor's Note:  

Before you go getting your panties in a bunch, it is essential to understand that this is just an opinion site and, as such, can be subjected to scrutiny by anyone with a differing opinion.  It doesn't make either opinion any more right or wrong than the other.  An opinion, presented in this context, is a way of inciting others to think and, hopefully, to form opinions of their own, if they haven't already done so.

It is my fervent hope that we keep open and active minds when reading opinions and then engaging in peaceful, constructive, discussion and debate in an arena of mutual respect concerning the opinions put forth.  After over twenty years as a military intelligence analyst, planner, and briefer, I have come to believe engaging each other in this manner and in this arena is the way we will learn tolerance and respect for differing beliefs, cultures, and viewpoints.

We all fall from grace, some more often than others; it is part of being human.  God's test for us is what we do afterward, and what we learn from the experience.
  

Pastor Frank Anthony Villari

Pastor Tony is founder of the Congregation for Religious Tolerance and author/editor of the Congregation's official blog site, "The Path."