Bioethics in Faith and Practice, Volume 3, Number 1

Bioethics in Faith and Practice ⦁ 2017 ⦁ Volume 3 ⦁ Number 1 5 Bioethics in Faith and Practice vol. 3, no. 1, pp. 5-7. ISSN 2374-1597 © 2017, Corbett Hall, licensed under CC BY-NC-ND ( http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ ) Biblical Ethics and Assisted Suicide Corbett Hall NYIT College of Osteopathic Medicine State University, Arkansas In 1990, Dr. Jack Kevorkian helped Oregon schoolteacher Janet Atkins to take her life. Kevorkian continued to use his medical expertise to assist in the suicides of more than 100 others, before his eventual conviction of second-degree murder. Of course, this did not end well for him professionally: his medical license was revoked, his “thanatron” death machine was sold, and the American Medical Association called him “a great threat to the public.” 1 Nevertheless, 27 years later, his legacy still propels physician-assisted suicide into the public square. In 1997, Oregon passed the “Death with Dignity Act,” which by 2016 had legally enabled over 1000 terminally-ill patients to end their lives. 2 Four additional states have now enacted statutes, along with the District of Columbia. 3 The Canadian government passed a bill legalizing physician-assisted suicide in June 2016, 4 and policy challenges within the American medical community have heightened the debate in our own country. Now more than ever, the question of whether or not a physician should help end a patient’s life is of utmost importance. The Christian tradition has always assumed that suicide is morally wrong, but it is difficult to build a solid exegetical case from Scripture. Certainly, both the Old and New Testaments condemn murder (Ex. 20:13; Lev. 24:17; Deut. 5:17; Matt. 5:21, Matt. 19:18). However, the idea of suicide is more challenging for biblical scholars. Theologian Lewis Smedes has noted that all six accounts of suicide in Scripture are never specifically condemned. 5 It is therefore hard to draw direct conclusions from the Bible. Even Martin Luther equivocated on this point in his writings: I don’t share the opinion that suicides are certainly to be damned. My reason is that they do not wish to kill themselves but are overcome by the power of the devil. They are like a man who is murdered in the woods by a robber. However, this ought not be taught to the common people, lest Satan be given an opportunity to cause slaughter…” 6 At the very least, the despair that drives the taking of one’s own life is a heart-wrenching tragedy and the work of our spiritual adversary. While certainly forgivable by our merciful Father, suicide is still an unfortunate result of the Fall, and should never be encouraged. Since the days of ancient Greece, physicians have acknowledged their special responsibility to preserve life. Hippocrates pledged, “I will neither give a deadly drug to anybody who asked for it, nor will I make a suggestion to this effect.” 7 Even the modern American Medical Association has condemned medically- assisted suicide: “Physician-assisted suicide [and] euthanasia [are] fundamentally incompatible with the