French bishops unite in declaration against assisted suicide

March 31, 2018 CNA Daily News News Briefs 0 Print

Paris, France, Mar 31, 2018 / 12:31 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Amid a push to legalize physician-assisted suicide in parts of Europe, 118 French bishops signed a declaration this week promoting end-of-life care and explaining the Church’s opposition to suicide in all forms.

“Whatever our convictions, the end of life is a time we all will live and a concern we share. Everyone must be able to think as calmly as possible, avoiding the pitfalls of passions and pressures,” the bishops said in the document.

“We want, above all, to express our full compassion for our brothers and sisters at the ‘end of life,’ as the Church has always tried to do. They present themselves in their weaknesses…their existence is a call: what humanity, what attention, what kind of solicitude will we show to those who live among us?” the bishops continued.

The declaration, called “End of Life: Yes to the Urgency of Fraternity,” was signed by 118 French bishops on March 22. The document was published to promote compassion towards those nearing the end of their lives, and to oppose physician-assisted suicide legislation.

In the document, the French bishops applauded the medical professionals who provide individuals with palliative and end-of-life care. However, they lamented the limited access to palliative care, due to the limited number of trained health care workers in the field.

“Because of these shortcomings and the media hype of some cases, many are calling for a change in the law through the legalization of medical assisted suicide and euthanasia,” they continued.

But to change the law, they said, would undermine pre-existing legislation that “ensures a peaceful end to life,” which was passed on Feb. 2, 2016.

“Changing the law would show a lack of respect not only for the legislative work done already, but also for the patient and progressive involvement of caregivers,” the bishops noted.

Accepting physician-assisted suicide in France would be contradictory, they continued, since the nation is also promoting efforts to fight against suicide.

They also noted that it would be contrary to the country’s Code of Medical Ethics, which states that doctors must carry out their mission “with respect for human life, the person and his dignity.”

“Killing, even pretending to invoke compassion, is by no means care. It is urgent to safeguard the vocation of medicine,” the bishops remarked.

Placing the weight of physician-assisted suicide on doctors and caregivers will inevitably result in the questioning of human dignity and a strained relationship between doctors and patients, they said.

“This issue will cause inevitable tensions for patients, their loved ones and caregivers. It would weigh seriously on their relationship.”

Furthermore, individuals nearing death are often vulnerable and should be guided with solidarity and support, not “a gesture of death,” the bishops said. They added that terminal patients who may be experiencing despair and desperation must not be left with “premature abandonment to the silence of death,” but rather with “more attentive accompaniment.”

The idea that assisted suicide is a personal choice that affects no one else is a false notion, the bishops continued, explaining, “The injuries of the individual body are wounds of the social body. If some people make the desperate choice of suicide, society has a duty to prevent this traumatic act.”

Moving forward, the French bishops called on the nation’s citizens to remember the story of the Good Samaritan, who passed a wounded man in the street. Instead of leaving the man to die, he cared for him and made sure he received the proper care and attention to recover.

“In light of this story, we call our fellow citizens and our parliamentarians to a burst of consciousness so that a fraternal society can be built ever more in France where we will take individual and collective care of each other.”

 

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Catholics excluded from unlawful euthanasia trial in Belgium

January 14, 2020 CNA Daily News 1

Ghent, Belgium, Jan 14, 2020 / 12:30 pm (CNA).- A Belgian lawyer has admitted to searching the social media profiles of potential jurors to weed out “devout Catholics” for a trial. The lawyer is representing a doctor who is accused of “unlawfully poisoning” an autistic woman via euthanasia. 

Lawyer Walter Van Steenbrugge, who is defense counsel for one of the three unnamed doctors on trial in Ghent, said that while he would not ban all Catholics from serving on the jury, he would be doing a poor job as a lawyer if he allowed a “devout” Catholic on the jury. 

Van Steenbrugge was quoted in Het Nieuwsblad, a Flemish newspaper, saying that lawyers “only get brief information about the jury members, and we have to deal with what we think about the candidates on social media.” 

In particular, Van Steenbrugge said, a potential juror with a devotion to Mary would be disqualifying from the case. 

“It goes without saying that I will exclude people who turn out to be ‘extremely Catholic,’ for example if they express a great Marian devotion,” he said. “We do not want a jury member who would appear to have ever written that euthanasia should be considered murder.”

On January 14, Van Steenbrugge said that this process was “logical” and that he would be a “bad lawyer” if he did not exclude these jurors. 

There have been approximately 60 people who have been summoned as potential jury members for the death of Tine Nys. Nys, an autistic woman, died by euthanasia in 2010. Her relatives say that her condition did not reach the standard required for euthanasia in Belgium, and that she sought to end her life due to a failed relationship. Belgian law requires that a person have “constant and unbearable suffering” that is “incurable.” 

Children are permitted to request euthanasia, as well as those with mental illnesses such as depression. Belgium’s euthanasia laws are among the most liberal in the world. 

Nys’ death is the first time doctors in Belgium have been charged with “unlawful poisoning ” after administering euthansaia. The doctors have not been named, but the BBC reported that they are the doctor who administered the drugs, her primary care physician, and a psychiatrist. 

Nys’ sisters said that she had a history of psychiatric problems as a child, but had not received treatment for 15 years. They said she had been diagnosed with autism just two months before her death, and had not been treated for the condition.

Additionally, they say the doctors who carried out the procedure were “amateurish,” and that one had requested that Nys’ father hold the needle in his daughter’s arm as he had forgotten to bring bandages. The doctor also requested that Nys’ parents listen through the stethoscope to confirm that she was no longer breathing. 

Other lawyers have supported Van Steenbrugge’s juror examinations, and said that it is common practice to search for a potential juror online and to look at their social media presence. 

Lawyer Kris Luyckx, who is not representing anyone in Nys’ case, told Het Nieuwsblad that he works with social media professionals “who gather as much information as possible through open sources, as soon as we have a list of candidates.” Luyckx said that the potential jurors are then color-coded depending on if they would be a good fit for the case.

“So I think it is not so strange that Mr. Van Steenbrugge would exclude very devout Catholics in this matter,” he said. 

Another lawyer disagreed, saying that he personally does not exclude large groups of people due to their religion or other factors. 

“I think that is a step too far,” said lawyer Walter Damen to Het Nieuwsblad. “How do you know for sure that Catholics or Christians are against euthanasia? And what about people who hold a different faith? In fact, even the greatest atheist can be against euthanasia,” said Damen. 

About six people per day die by euthanasia in Belgium. In October 2019, four-time Paralympic medalist wheelchair racer Marieke Vervoort made headlines after she requested and received euthanasia.

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