{"id":15121,"date":"2020-04-30T08:51:22","date_gmt":"2020-04-30T13:51:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ifamnews.com\/?p=15121"},"modified":"2020-04-30T08:53:02","modified_gmt":"2020-04-30T13:53:02","slug":"grim-reapers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ifamnews.com\/en\/grim-reapers","title":{"rendered":"Grim Reapers: When Man Plays God"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

[This article originally appeared in SALVO (www.salvomag.com<\/a>) on April 24, 2020; it is reproduced here with permission. \u2013 Ed.]<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

As of early last week, patients with advanced dementia in the Netherlands should be concerned. That country\u2019s highest court has ruled<\/a> that it is legally permissible to carry out a patient\u2019s earlier request for euthanasia, even if the patient no longer expresses a wish to die. [1]<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The ruling involves the 2016 killing of a 74-year-old woman who had been diagnosed with Alzheimer\u2019s four years before her death. At that time, the woman had expressed a wish to die by euthanasia before needing to enter a care facility, but she also expressed that she wanted to make the decision \u201cwhile still in my senses and when I think the time is right.\u201d She never did indicate a \u201cright time,\u201d but nonetheless, both her doctor and family believed her previous advance directive should stand. The woman was given a sedative in her coffee to make her lose consciousness, but she woke up halfway through the procedure and had to be restrained while the doctor finished. The Dutch court upheld the doctor\u2019s actions, albeit indicating that such procedures should only occur in cases of \u201cunbearable and endless suffering\u201d and with the consent of at least two doctors. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Netherlands was the first country in the world to legalize euthanasia, in 2002, with the guidelines that it should only be done in cases of \u201cunbearable suffering,\u201d and where it was clear there was no chance the patient would improve. Since that time, reports of euthanasia of patients with dementia have increased every year<\/a> [2]<\/a>, but doctors have been wary to euthanize patients with advanced<\/em> dementia, for the obvious reason that no one could know for certain if that\u2019s really what the patients still wanted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This case comes at an unusual time, one when most of the world is shuttered up to some degree or another to \u201cprotect the most vulnerable\u201d from COVID-19. The \u201cmost vulnerable\u201d include the ill but mostly indicate the elderly. In the United States, we have done serious harm to our national economy\u2014and to many people\u2019s livelihoods and lives\u2014for this reason. And yet, the global definition of \u201cthe most vulnerable\u201d is apparently up for grabs. On the one hand, many wear masks, stay at home, avoid workplaces and places of worship, etc., for the sake of keeping the elderly healthy. On the other hand, a country has just legalized the killing of \u201cthe most vulnerable\u201d\u2014people who are elderly and ill, whose brains are quite literally impaired in some way. Why do we care about protecting some of the elderly and demented, but not all? Why are some lives worth preserving, while others can and should be ended? Why, in Michigan, is it almost impossible to garden<\/a> during COVID-19, but elective abortions are still considered \u201clife-sustaining\u201d? [3]<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is not to say that we shouldn\u2019t<\/em> be sheltering-in, or taking great measures to protect those most at risk. Only that in the case of COVID-19, the U.S. and many, many other of the nations of the world have taken drastic measures which will affect countless lives\u2014and doubtless cost some lives\u2014to protect people from a disease which has so far killed far fewer people than die from hunger<\/a> [4]<\/a> or in car accidents<\/a> [5]<\/a> every year. And yet, at the same time, many places still permit abortion on demand, and now also the euthanasia of patients no longer able to consent to their own death.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When man begins to play God, deciding who shall live and who\nshall die, we are bound to see such glaring and tragic inconsistencies. For in\nthe end, our sinful nature also influences our definitions, and phrases like\n\u201cthe most vulnerable\u201d or \u201ca woman\u2019s right to choose\u201d or \u201cdying with dignity\u201d become\nmeaningless, or rather take on whatever meaning the individual speaker assigns\nto them. \u201cThe wisdom of this world is foolishness before God,\u201d warned the\nApostle Paul.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Certainly, this is a fallen world, a world into which sin\nand thus death have entered. And sometimes man is forced to make decisions that\ndetermine life or death, decisions such as whether to go to war, or when to\nsuspend treatment of someone in a vegetative state. But there is a vast and\nsignificant difference between suspending treatment for someone who is ill, and\nadministering new drugs to make that patient die. There is a huge difference\nbetween allowing a child whom the parents know will not survive to nonetheless\nenter the world and leave it, to respect that child\u2019s dignity as a person no\nmatter how helpless, and aborting that child because the tiny life is deemed\ntoo damaged to be worth protecting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Let us hope and pray for a return to a world in which\nmankind recognizes its own limits, withstands suffering rather than seeking to\nend it by early death, and respects the value of life from conception until\nnatural death.
<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

[1]<\/a>\nBBC, \u201cEuthanasia: Dutch court expands law on dementia cases\u201d (April 21, 2020),\navailable at https:\/\/bbc.com\/news\/world-europe-52367644.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

[2]<\/a> Andrew\nBomford and Estelle Doyle, \u201cWanting to die at \u2018five to midnight\u2019 – before\ndementia takes over,\u201d BBC (January 30, 2019), available at https:\/\/bbc.com\/news\/stories-47047579.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

[3]<\/a>\nMicaiah Bilger, \u201cMichigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer \u2018Bans Gardening\u2019 During Lockdown,\nLets Abortion Clinics Kill Babies,\u201d LifeNews (April 21, 2020), available at https:\/\/lifenews.com\/2020\/04\/21\/michigan-gov-gretchen-whitmer-bans-gardening-during-lockdown-lets-abortion-clinics-kill-babies\/.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

[4]<\/a>\n\u201cThe Facts: What You Need to Know About Global Hunger,\u201d Mercy Corps (October 1,\n2018), available at https:\/\/mercycorps.org\/blog\/quick-facts-global-hunger.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

[5]<\/a>\n\u201cRoad Safety Facts,\u201d available at https:\/\/asirt.org\/safe-travel\/road-safety-facts\/,\naccessed April 22, 2020.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When man begins to play God, deciding who shall live and who shall die, we are bound to see such glaring and tragic inconsistencies.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":29,"featured_media":15122,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"give_campaign_id":0,"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"mc4wp_mailchimp_campaign":[],"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":{"subtitle":"When man begins to play God, deciding who shall live and who shall die, we are bound to see such glaring and tragic inconsistencies.","format":"standard","video":"","gallery":"","source_name":"","source_url":"","via_name":"","via_url":"","override":[{"single_blog_custom":"","sidebar":"","second_sidebar":"","share_position":"","share_float_style":"","post_date_format":"","post_date_format_custom":"","post_reading_time_wpm":"","zoom_button_out_step":"1","zoom_button_in_step":"1","number_popup_post":"1"}],"image_override":[{"single_post_thumbnail_size":"","single_post_gallery_size":""}],"trending_post_position":"","trending_post_label":""},"jnews_primary_category":{"id":"808"},"jnews_social_meta":{"fb_title":"","fb_description":"","fb_image":"","twitter_title":"","twitter_description":"","twitter_image":""},"jnews_override_counter":{"view_counter_number":"0","share_counter_number":"0","like_counter_number":"0","dislike_counter_number":"0"},"footnotes":""},"categories":[804,808],"tags":[830,3098],"class_list":["post-15121","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-breaking-news","category-life","tag-euthanasia","tag-the-netherlands"],"yoast_head":"\nGrim Reapers: When Man Plays God - 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King is the Managing Editor of IOF's journal, The Natural Family: An International Journal of Research and Policy, the United States\u2019 leading journal of family-policy research. In that capacity, she writes, edits and corresponds with editors and contributors to ensure that each issue provides the most relevant and accurate research and policy analysis available. Nicole holds a B.A. in English as well as M.A.s in English and Political Theory. She has contributed to The Front Porch Republic and Chronicles: A Magazine of American Culture, among others. 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