What if There’s No “Dignity” In Euthanasia?

You’ve heard of the “physically healthy” but autistic & chronically depressed 29-yr-old Dutch woman who died by assisted suicide after a 3-yr wait? Another troubling woke idea that smacks of cowardice? Evil?

Fox News medical contributor Dr. Marc Siegel thought the news “very disturbing” & called on physicians to take a “very strong” stance against assisted suicides. Mind you, it’s not that most folks can’t feel for Zoraya ter Beek wanting to “terminate” her life after years of social grief, electric shocking, depression drugs & being told by her shrink there was “nothing more that could be done” for the deep psychological hole she lived in. Indeed, most if not all of us live with heavy burdens, from Father Stu’s ALS to God knows what physical, mental & spiritual horrors that invariably encroach on an otherwise beautiful thing called “life.” I had 40 years of chronic & debilitating migraine headaches. But, I looked at others around me, like the quadriplegic 40-yr-old man in my condo complex with a never-failing smile on his contorted face as a nurse wheeled him past me … & my perspective got enlightened.

And, what is real vs imagined hopelessness anyway? The Free Press notes Ter Beek “lived with her [IT programmer] boyfriend & she herself said: “My whole friends & my support system, we really did it together.” Curiously, then, it sounds like Ter Beek, who saw herself as an “ambassador” for the “painless” & “safe” Dutch euthanasia program, had plenty to live for. Yet, that exit to life surrounded by friends, supporters & doctors was somehow the “only” option? Some might call that cowardice, since no one could have stopped Ter Beek from taking her own life the lonely, painful & unsafe yet sure way like so many other unfortunates have. She said she wanted to die “with dignity” but what if that's a devilishly dressed up “ignoble” end after all? In any event, as Dr. Sager suggested, for a government & doctors who swore the Hippocratic oath to actively enable a mentally disturbed to give up the “easy” way is itself disturbing. BTW: I haven’t had a migraine the past 30 years & my quadriplegic friend still shows more dignity & guts than I’ll ever have.

Davd Soul