Christian Health Insurance

A Question on Internet: If a person is terminally ill, has excruciating pain that can't be relieved, and/or is so frustrated that they can't do anything for themselves anymore and desires to die, is mercy killing a viable option?

1) Corbin says: I personally don't feel that I can do this, but at the same time I feel it really would be a tough choice to make if a request like this were made.

2) Sandra says: A very sensitive subject indeed. However, life is precious to the Creator and his son so there really would be many things to consider. What really is mercy killing? My mother became ill with a terminal illness, and she had us sign a document not to use any artificial means to prolong her life. We did this and felt it was right, although I'm not sure you'd call this mercy killing.

3) Susan says: For one thing, I really don't think that anyone who hasn't first-hand experience with someone they love, dying in excruciating agony over a long/short term, can really understand the full-depth of this. My father died at the age of 48 after a long and excruciatingly painful illness, despite taking many painkillers. He was a strong Believer and did not ask anyone to relieve him of his suffering through mercy killing. I myself don't know whether I could stand the agony my father had to go through in his illness. Therefore I really think people should have this choice of assisted suicide. On the other hand, I know a couple who had a baby who doctors said had no chance of living a normal life, yet at the age of 4, this boy was living as normal alife as any normal 4 year old boy would.

4) Tom says: A number of people have asked me to help them die, but I couldn't do it. The only thing I did was to allow a person the blessing of release from this life.

5) Pamie says: My human self often feels the choice should be the individuals, my spiritual self feels God is giving the experience of this suffering for some purpose. I so wish the 2 selves would meet at times.

6) Sarah says: I think that there is a strong case for allowing people who are terminally ill and suffering dreadfully to die with dignity, and if they are unable to do it for themselves, I think that they should be allowed to be helped to die. It is almost certainly not according to Christian principles, but neither is forcing people to undergo appalling suffering and complete loss of dignity, not to mention the knowledge that their families and friends are also suffering watching them go through this. It really would be easier to ask a doctor to administer an overdose or whatever than to do it yourself. However, I believe that if I loved the sufferer very much I would be able and willing to do it. I cannot speak for anyone else. The problem then would be: Would I love the person enough to go to prison for it? That's hard. I don't know.

The names of the commentarians have been changed, except for myself, to protect the privacy of the Internet contributors, but their comments are accurate.

About the author: Corbin Melvin Wright was born in New York City in 1931, grew up on Long Island, graduated from Roanoke College in Virginia with a BA in Political Science, and from New York Theological Seminary with a Masters in Religious Education. He worked as an accountant in NYC for 21 yrs. and as an English teacher and Christian counselor in Argentina for 23 years. He was married twice, widowed once, & has no children, E-mail address (corbinwr@yahoo.com).