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Jewish World Review Sept. 18, 2000 / 17 Elul, 5760
http://www.jewishworldreview.com --
FOR THE SECOND TIME in less than four years, a debate is taking place in our nation over the issue of
physician-assisted suicide. PBS just aired a Bill Moyers report on the subject of death and dying
in America with an extensive discussion of assisted suicide. This week, the U.S. Senate is
expected to debate the Pain Relief Promotion Act — a bipartisan measure that will address this critical
issue in a meaningful way. It is a debate that has serious moral and public policy implications and one on
which Jewish tradition is quite clear, for Judaism values life.
The “pop” image of physician-assisted suicide is that of Jack Kevorkian administering a lethal injection to
an ailing individual on “60 Minutes.” The image offered by advocates of its legalization is certainly more
sympathetic; it imagines a terminally ill person suffering horrible pain due to the inadequacy of legal, pain
relief medications and that allowing someone to “die with dignity” is the truest act of love in such
circumstances. Unfortunately, this sympathetic image is as detached from reality and the kind of society
we should champion as is the first.
Last year, the Portland Oregonian newspaper featured a detailed account of one person’s assisted
suicide odyssey from the only state where this practice has been legalized.
The account highlighted the real-world dangers inherent in the legalization of this practice, especially as
relates to those least capable of protecting themselves from harm. Eighty-five-year-old Kate Cheney,
suffering from inoperable cancer, petitioned to be assisted in committing suicide.
As a result of her illness, she suffered bouts of dementia and was, therefore, referred by her doctor to a
psychiatrist for evaluation as required by Oregon’s “Death With Dignity” law. The psychiatrist found
Cheney to be suffering from short-term memory loss and, more worrisome, wrote that the Cheney’s
daughter was the proponent of the suicide much more than Kate herself.
Cheney was thus refused assistance in killing herself.
But the story does not end there. Cheney’s daughter took her suffering mother to a second doctor who
referred her to a psychologist, who determined that the mother was competent to kill herself with
assistance. The final decision on the matter fell to the “ethicist administrator” for Kate Cheney’s HMO;
he approved the lethal prescription, she took it, and died.
Reflecting upon this report, the Oregonian editorialized that “tales of some Oregon assisted suicides
betray more troubling issues than anything assisted suicide foes could call up,” and underscored the
substantial financial interest health insurance companies have in terminal patients committing suicide rather
than insisting upon receiving costly palliative care.
We well know that Jewish tradition holds the preservation of human life as one of its supreme moral
values. It takes precedence over virtually all other moral values to the degree that only the violation of
three cardinal sins (idolatry, adultery and murder) in limited circumstances can claim precedence over the
imperative to preserve life.
Nevertheless, Judaism — acutely linked to the reality of the human condition — realizes there are
circumstances in which a person might long for death. The Talmud reports of Rabbi Judah the Prince
suffering great pain from an illness and his righteous maidservant praying for his death as an end to his
suffering. At least one commentator cites this passage as an approbation of praying for the merciful death
for one suffering in pain from illness.
Even with this appreciation of our human reality, Jewish law does not reduce the mandate that we
preserve life, even under the most challenging conditions. While rabbinic authorities, ancient and modern,
debate whether under limited circumstances medical treatments may be withheld from a suffering person
(thus, no longer delaying an inevitable death), it is abundantly clear that one may not proactively hasten
death. At the same time, Jewish law would endorse the aggressive palliation of pain to a degree not
currently practiced in the medical profession. Rabbinic authorities place such treatment under the rubric
of loving one’s neighbor as one’s self (Leviticus 19:18) and condone even the use of narcotics to
ameliorate a person’s pain.
In 1997, the U.S. Supreme Court was asked to invalidate state laws in New York and Washington that
criminalized physician-assisted suicide and recognize a constitutionally protected right to obtain such
assistance.
The Orthodox Union, along with many other concerned constituencies, argued before the high court that
the Constitution clearly did not speak to this issue, let alone resolve it in favor of a right to die. The court
prudently ruled as such and recognized that this policy debate should be resolved in a legislative body,
not a court.
America’s national legislature has now acted upon the court’s holding. Last year, the House of
Representatives took up this critical issue and voted 271 to 156 in favor of the Pain Relief Promotion
Act. This measure does two important things thoroughly consistent with the Jewish values outlined above.
First, it promotes the aggressive treatment of pain by offering doctors a “safe harbor” for prescribing
controlled substances to reduce pain, even if the use of these otherwise illegal drugs results —
unintentionally — in the patient’s death. Second, the bill largely overrules an Oregon law legalizing
physician-assisted suicide in that state.
The bill has been endorsed by many groups including the Orthodox Union, American Medical
Association, National Conference of Catholic Bishops as well as former Surgeon General C. Everett
Koop. It will bring comfort to the ill and ensure that the medical profession remains faithful to its call as
healer, not agent of death. It deserves the strong support of the Jewish community and should passed to
the benefit of us
Judaism values life ---
it is time to act on our values
By Nathan J. Diament
Nathan Diament is director of the Institute for Public Affairs of the Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations of America. Comment by clicking here.
