IN THEORY:

Washington state voters may decide in November whether to approve a “Death With Dignity” act. The referendum would let doctors prescribe lethal drugs to terminal patients judged to have less than six months to live. Where do you stand on this issue and why?

I was a hospice chaplain for several years, and I know that the last months of life can be difficult. Yet they can also be an amazingly meaningful time. It should be legal for individuals to have the right to end their lives. But I do not think it is usually a good choice, and I can see only a few situations where I might be supportive.

Sick, very elderly and dying people often feel they are a burden. They do not see the point of their lives if they no longer can be productive or sociable. It is not “undignified” to be dependent upon others, to need the care of others and to be unable to participate in usual activities. Our culture does not help people to prepare for the seasons of old age and death. Religious traditions teach that it is “being” not “doing” which is the basis of human dignity.

It is well known by palliative care specialists that family and medical staff are reluctant to utilize fully pain medications like morphine. If pain cannot be managed, I would be in favor of the patient’s choice to die.

The Rev. Deborah Barrett

Zen Center of Orange County, Costa Mesa

I am not in favor of physician assisted suicide although I have great sympathy for those who live with chronic pain. I believe human life is God-given and therefore sacred.

The Bible says in Genesis 2:7 these words: “And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life: And man became a living soul.”

It is my conviction that life belongs to the God who gave it, and we should not lightly take it, nor should we help others to do so. Compassionate physicians should do everything they can to make people as comfortable as medically possible, and we should have the right to decide whether or not a physician uses artificial means to prolong our lives, but it is not our right, nor our physicians’, to prematurely end our lives.

God’s desire is that each of us reflect on eternity and use whatever time He allows us on this earth to prepare to meet Him in the afterlife. That preparation is done in our response to the gospel message of the death, burial and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. It is my belief that we should not help anyone end their own life before God is ready to take it. How do we know but what the Lord may use a terminal illness to show a person their need of His saving grace?

Pastor Dwight Tomlinson

Liberty Baptist Church

Newport Beach

Illness and suffering are among the most difficult problems people encounter in life. The Catechism of the Catholic Church tells us “Illness can lead to anguish, self-absorption, sometimes even despair and revolt against God. It can also make a person more mature, helping him discern in his life what is not essential so that he can turn toward that which is. Very often illness provokes a search for God and a return to him.” The idea that suffering can have a redemptive value is foreign to many people.

While approving and implementing such a referendum may seem like the humane thing to do, this in fact might lead to other types of “euthanasia.” One need consider the plethora of abortions being performed. As qualified as a doctor may be, how do they know exactly how much time a person has left? Would the next logical step be to prescribe similar drugs to those with disabilities who are deemed to be a “burden” on society? I hope the voters in Washington State vote against this referendum.

Father Stephen Doktorczyk

St. Joachim Church

Costa Mesa