THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, September 20, 1996 TAG: 9609190007
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A18 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Opinion
SOURCE: By ETTA A. NELSON
LENGTH: 71 lines
I was an infant when my mother killed herself. Seventeen years after my mother's death my alcoholic father told me that my mother committed suicide because she had been sick for a long time and her doctor had not been able to find anything physically wrong with her. Although I'll never be sure, I believe that my mother wanted to end her suffering - not her life. I believe that this same reasoning can be expanded to many of the people who seek doctor-assisted suicide.
The supporters of this method of suicide profess that an individual has a constitutional ``right'' to seek when and how to die - including obtaining assistance in the taking of one's own life.
Many people in the assisted-suicide controversy have asked where to draw the line. The American Medical Association has taken a firm stance against physician-assisted suicide. In his recent comments to the U.S. House of Representatives Subcommittee on the Constitution, Carlos F. Gomez, M.D., expressed his view (which I share) on the subject. ``(P)roponents of assisted suicide would now have us `aid' toward what is painted as a painless, merciful and, let us be honest here, economical end.'' Dr. Gomez also states that, ``The devaluation of human life at the end of life is one of the problems that has led us . . . to Kevorkian and others of his ilk . . . we now have it well within our technical means to alleviate, palliate and comfort and control the worst of symptoms.''
The physically ill are not the only targets of the supporters of death by demand. Some of the most outraged members of our society opposing this form of death are members of various disability-rights groups. Woody Osborn, a full-time civil-rights specialist, and a quadriplegic, is a member of one such group called Not Dead Yet. Mr. Osborn asserts, ``Our deaths are being viewed as more desirable than providing services such as in-home care that would allow us to live as free and independent citizens. Instead, many of us are caged in nursing homes and institutions or dependent on a family member - the two main circumstances that lead to assisted suicide.''
Kathleen Foley, M.D., notes that ``it seems ironic that at a time when we have refused to guarantee health care to everyone that the judiciary selected physician-assisted suicide as the one health-care right that deserved constitutional status.''
New York Cardinal John O'Conner, who oversees ``one of the largest Catholic health-care systems in the world,'' states that the church predicted that the legalizing of abortion ``would be only the beginning, that all human life would be vulnerable - ultimately held in contempt and useless.'' Will our society eventually follow the lead of the Dutch who now permit ``involuntary'' euthanasia (which would be murder in the States) for incompetent patients? In addition, the Dutch are drawing up guidelines for euthanizing handicapped newborns.
Finally, there is one other group in our society that suffers excruciating pain caused by this lethal weapon. This group, the family members and loved ones who are left behind to grieve their loss, is known as Survivors of Suicide (SOS).
The feeling of abandonment that I experienced due to my mother's suicide tortured and tormented me most of my life. On Christmas Day, 1975, I was a doctoral student in criminal justice with ``everything going for me'' - everything except a will to live. I had always felt somehow responsible for both my mother's suicide and my father's alcoholism. I could no longer endure the overpowering burden of guilt and the relentless force that held my mind captive. On that Christmas Day, I shot myself in my chest (aiming for my heart). God's grace and mercy spared my life that day.
Kevorkian, remarking about the death of Jesus Christ, said ``Had Christ died in my van, it would have been far more dignified.'' It was the ``undignified'' death of Jesus Christ that ultimately freed me from the bondage that had enslaved me for so many years.
Anyone who might be having suicidal thoughtsand does not know how or where to get professional help should call the Suicide Crisis Center: 399-6393. MEMO: Etta A. Nelson is a Virginia Beach resident. by CNB