Dear Editor:
In response to the article on PAS: Suicide, no matter how, is primarily wrong, and illegal.
This article wrongfully uses the word dignity, and the assumption that taking your life, especially as a Christian. Our lives are not ours to do with as we so desire, they are the Lord’s. I have a family member who received a terminal diagnosis; he has an eleven year-old daughter. Is it more dignified to leave your child with a memory of you fighting for life, or ending your life before the fight? If I was that daughter, or that man’s wife, I would much rather face debt than see my father or husband just give up.
Comparing DNR to PAS is not a fair comparison. DNR is for sake of protecting the person from the pain resuscitation would cause them. PAS is a choice rather than treatment, it is not the same as a choice to let someone naturally die.
What happens if this becomes legal everywhere? It becomes the “easier “, more affordable, “less painful” and “dignified” option. Then pharmaceutical companies will jump in on the new opportunity to produce a new drug, say the “kill pill”, another money-maker. People all around the world attempt suicide with pills, some are able to receive appropriate therapy afterwards. But what happens when the “kill pill” is used? They die. Suicide becomes easier. Suicide rates skyrocket.
When it comes down to it, suicide is suicide; and no one should be aided in ending their own life no matter what. Suicide is a widespread epidemic that should be prevented and stopped, not promoted. PAS on a human-level should be understood as wrong, even more so from a Christian perspective.
Prevent lives from being lost. Thank you for your time.
Pursue God always,
Tori Walker