Attitudes Toward Mercy Killing
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.