Ecumenical advisory council opposes physician assisted suicide

An ecumenical body comprising the Anglican, Methodist and Presbyterian churches of New Zealand is stressing its opposition to the introduction of “physician assisted suicide.”

The ecumenical body advises the churches on the “spiritual, ethical and cultural issues connected to biotechnology and related issues”. 

In making its submission to the Health Select Committee, the InterChurch Bioethics Council (ICBC), accepted that its views were not shared by all members of its constituent denominations.

However, it said that “as a designated committee, we are providing our ‘expert’ opinion following our own discussions, research and reading over the past three years and some limited wider consultation.”

The ICBC criticised the Health Select Committee for considering the “social, legal, medical, cultural, financial, ethical, and philosophical implications” of such a move; saying that they “have negated (sic) to include spiritual considerations which are also part of current legislation guidelines.”

In addition, the ICBC challenged the phrase “physician assisted dying” that had been used in the debate.

The ecumenical body says that the phrase was “inadequate” because it “confuses scenarios where the intention of the physician is actively to cause death with those where the intention is to relieve suffering.

The ICBC said that “the right to self-determination does not take place in a vacuum – no-one is completely free, we are embedded in family and society involving critical relationships, including a debt to future generations.

“Our personal freedom is always held alongside the rights of others, and from a Christian perspective, our personal rights have to be considered alongside our responsibilities to others that reflect our love of God as indicated in the command to love both God and neighbour (Mark 12:28-32).”

“In the face of suffering, the Christian and humane response is to maximise care/compassion for those in most need. However killing is not a part of the arsenal of care/compassion for the dying.”

They continue: “A change in the law to permit physician assisted suicide would cross a fundamental legal and ethical boundary, since the respect for the lives of others goes to the heart of both our criminal and human rights laws and ought not to be abandoned.”

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