Tagebuch 1966-1971 (suhrkamp taschenbuch) (German Edition)

be that way«, he said, »and leave the decision up to the patient.«
    Many doctors make a distinction between »active euthanasia«, where a drug or other treatment is administered to hasten death, and »passive euthanasia«, in which therapy is withheld and death is hastened by omission of treatment.
    Most religious groups condemn active euthanasia, especially the Roman Catholic Church. Last October, Pope Paul VI said in a statement to Roman Catholic physicians that euthanasia, without the patient's consent, was murder; and with his consent, suicide. »What is morally a crime cannot, under any pretext, become legal«, he added.
    But the Pope also seemed to espouse the religious community's more lenient attitude towards passive euthanasia when he said that while doctors have the duty to fight against death with all the resources of science, they are not obliged to use all the survival techniques developed by science. Prolonging life in the terminal stage of incurable disease could be »useless torture«, he said.
    A statement by Pope Pius XII is included in the literature distributed by the Euthanasia Educational Fund. It says: »The removal of pain and consciousness by means of drugs when medical reasons suggest it, is permitted by religion and morality to both doctor and patient; even if the use of drugs will shorten life.«
    The Euthanasia Educational Fund is a nonprofit, educational organization that finances studies and seminars on euthanasia for physicians, clergymen, social workers, nurses and lawyers. Contributions to the fund are tax deductible, while contributions to the Euthanasia Society of America, an action organizationseeking political change, are not. Both groups have offices in the same room at the West 57th Street address, and claim 1200 joint members. Last year, the membership was 600.
    The Rev. Donald W. McKinney, pastor of the First Unitarian Church of Brooklyn and vice president of the Euthanasia Educational Fund, said he believed that the fact that the »living will« was not legally binding was »rather irrelevant«.
    »Its great value«, he said, »is that a tremendous burden of guilt is lifted from the family and children when a person signs the will. And it is also a great deal of help to doctors.«
    He said that more and more clergymen had to wrestle with the moral question posed by euthanasia: Whether it can be reconciled with the commandment, »Thou shalt not kill.«
    »The primary commandment is reverence for life«, he said. »It is not a question of killing, but a question of honoring life, a question of dignity.«
    »The process of dying is changing today«, he went on. »With all the new medical advances we have, we have to determine if life is really being served by prolonging the act to dying.«
    The fact hat there is no clear definition of death that is acceptable to everyone is one reason why many doctors are opposed to euthanasia. Some doctors consider death to occur when the brain dies; others, when the heart stops functioning. Sidney D. Rosoff, legal advisor for both euthanasia groups, said: »A patient is dead when a doctor says he is.« But even this definition has not always helped up in court cases.
    »I tend to be basically moved toward it (euthanasia)«, said Dr. Barry Wood, a Manhattan internist who is also a ordained Episcopal priest, »but I become more conservative as I see the possibilities. One possibility is to declare certain people unfit – and this has happened in the past.«
    Dr. Fred Rosner, director of hematology at the Queen's Hospital Center and a leading critic of euthanasia, said: »If euthanasia were legalized, the next logical step would be the legalization of genocide and the killing of social misfits.« »And who can make the fine distinction between prolonging life and prolonging the act of dying?« he added.
     
    Another argument
     
    Other opponents of euthanasia frequently argue that a dying patient should be kept alive as long as possible because a cure for his illness could be just around the corner.
    »There is a paucity of overnight miracles«, Mr. Nathanson rebutted, »Physicians generally know what's going on in the field.«
    »And what if a person can't stand the pain for five years? If I say, ’I can't stand it‘, and the doctor says, ’Look, your suffering may help other people‘, that's the worst ethical indignity that can be done to a person.«
    The Hippocratic oath that all physicians take when they graduate from medical school