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You may or may not know legislation that would legalize physician-assisted suicide in New York state is being considered this week by your elected representatives in Albany. At this point, it does not look like assisted suicide will become law in New York during the current legislative session, which is scheduled to end next month.
In matters of state politics, recent history has taught that it’s hard to be absolutely certain of outcomes until the session is officially finished, and that’s putting it mildly.
One thing we do know for sure is that the well-organized and well-funded supporters of such legislation will continue their fight to make assisted suicide the law in the Empire State.
In case you haven’t heard, proponents of assisted suicide aren’t the only ones making noise this time around. The New York State Catholic Conference has done a good job keeping the matter before Catholic voters.
“Lawmakers need to be requiring education in pain management and palliative care, removing the obstacles to good hospice care and providing more ‘aid-in-living,’ not so-called ‘aid-in-dying,’” Kathleen M. Gallagher, director of pro-life activities for the Catholic Conference, said Tuesday.
“We continue to broaden the number of partners we are working with in the New York Alliance Against Assisted Suicide and spreading the message that we can love those who are terminally ill until the natural, dignified end of their lives,” she said.
The archdiocese’s Family Life/Respect Life Office deserves kudos for organizing many educational events about assisted suicide throughout the last several months. Sister Lucy Marie, S.V., the Respect Life coordinator, did fine work coordinating the presentations, which took place in nearly every part of the archdiocese. Edward Mechmann, an attorney who is director of public policy for the archdiocese, should be credited for his astute presence, which combines a deep knowledge of the law and the Church with an ability to break down complex concepts into understandable language.
What I’m saying is that the Church hasn’t been sitting on the sidelines hoping that things turn out OK. It is engaged and active on the issue.
I went to a fast-moving and enlightening morning session at St. Joseph’s parish in Somers on Saturday, April 30, which was organized by the parish’s Respect Life Committee headed by the husband and wife team of William and Fran Monti.
Called “Medical and Ethical Decisions: End-of-Life Issues at Any Age,” it brought together a panel of experts, including Mechmann; Dr. Christopher Comfort, medical director of Calvary Hospital in the Bronx; Dr. Harold Federman, medical director, Hospice Care in Westchester and Putnam; and Karen Gormley-Vitale, a registered nurse who is manager of Metropolitan Jewish Hospice Hospital Program in Manhattan.
In an opening session on “Church Teachings About End-of-Life Issues,” Mechmann made several points worth repeating, including this one: “Every human has inherent dignity, which doesn’t depend on our abilities, income, color, good looks or age” or anything else, for that matter.
Looking at human beings from a strictly utilitarian point of view is “very dangerous,” he added.
During a session on “Patient Care,” Dr. Comfort said that the Catholic community, in its advocacy against assisted suicide, must develop “an approach to care that we are able to articulate clearly, and that we are going to be able to discuss in dialogue with people who are not of the same opinion that we are.”
The doctor said that the medical profession as a whole is far from blameless in its treatment of patients at the end stages of life, often making promises “to you that we couldn’t keep.”
He also explained that requests for assisted suicide are rarely made late in the dying process “because patients must have the cognitive ability to ask for it.”
The morning ended with a vigorous question-and-answer period during which many of the 60 audience members used personal examples to frame their questions.
Afterward, Tina Bilesky, a parishioner of St. John the Evangelist and Our Lady of Mount Carmel in White Plains, told me that she thought the program at St. Joseph’s was excellent and found each component necessary and helpful.
“Every parish should have these kinds of discussions,” she said.
Ms. Bilesky mentioned that she had personal experience with a close friend who died of cancer at Calvary Hospital last year. The medical and pastoral care he received at Calvary was delivered in a caring atmosphere not focused on “doom and gloom,” but offering realistic assessments for the patient and his family.
“They are taking care of patients the best way they can,” she said.
