THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, September 15, 1996 TAG: 9609130010
SECTION: COMMENTARY PAGE: J4 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Letter
LENGTH: 38 lines
With due respect to Dr. Robert A. Nash, I must speak frankly in responding to his letter of Sunday, Aug. 25.
Dr. Nash asserts that Dr. Jack Kevorkian's mission to end the pointless suffering of the terminally or incurably ill is in direct violation of the medical community's Hippocratic oath.
He points to a portion which forbids the dispensation of deadly drugs to any person, requested or otherwise, to make his case. Authoritatively, he goes on to state that although Dr. Kevorkian has evaded man's justice, he will ultimately be ``judged by a higher court.''
I think we can safely assume that the higher court he alludes to is of the most celestial kind. No doubt, if this is so, Dr. Kevorkian's trial will make O.J.'s look like lunch break at the five and dime. Personally, I am content with the knowledge that Dr. Kevorkian will be met and upheld by all of those whose way to freedom was eased somewhat by the courage and compassion of the good ``Dr. Death.''
It is said that while Nature is a beautiful thing, she is also very cruel. The same need not be true of modern medicine.
When my stepfather lay dying of terminal cirrhosis of the liver, he could have undergone emergency surgery, had the family not intervened. The pain would have overshadowed the week or month of extra life it would have given him. Instead, he slipped away unhindered, in peace, as God intended.
My terminally ill infant son, who was born in 1981 with a severe chromosomal anomaly, could have been hooked up to tubes and lines and tents and shunts, struggling to die instead of to live, which for him was impossible. Perhaps his death would have been untouchably painful rather than soft, uncomplicated and loving, lying in his mother's arms.
Death is meant to be at least as beautiful as birth. Allowing it to be so truly honors the sacredness of both.
KATHLEEN D. KING
Virginia Beach, Aug. 28, 1996 by CNB