Assisted Suicide
Problems with Physician-Assisted Suicide
1. Undermines the medical profession's true purpose.
The medical field exists to heal, not to kill.
2. Devalues the elderly and disabled.
Some lives are mistakenly deemed less "meaningful."
3. Endangers those with mental illness.
Those with mental illness are at risk for not being adequately supported.
4. Hurts the poor and isolated.
Those who may lack access to proper medical care face greater temptations to resort to physician-assisted suicide. Some qualify for physician-assisted suicide but not for other basic treatments and, even, hospice.
From the Catechism of the Catholic Church:
2258 "Human life is sacred because from its beginning it involves the creative action of God and it remains for ever in a special relationship with the Creator, who is its sole end. God alone is the Lord of life from its beginning until its end: no one can under any circumstance claim for himself the right directly to destroy an innocent human being."