Vatican: Assisted Suicide Of Brittany Maynard Is ‘Reprehensible And An Absurdity’

By Staff Reporter | Nov 04, 2014 07:02 PM EST

TEXT SIZE    

The Vatican officially condemned Brittany Maynard's assisted suicide. The Roman Catholic Church called the act as "reprehensible and an absurdity."

The Roman Catholic Church have been teaching that life begins at the moment of conception and should end at the moment of natural death. The officials in Vatican oppose euthanasia and assisted suicide, as stated by NBC News. And the actions of Brittany Maynard regarding her death should be condemned despite the intentions.  

Brittany Maynard, 29-year-old, became the face of the right-to-die campaign after she was diagnosed in January with a brain tumor. She grabbed national attention after publicizing that she and her husband, Dan Diaz, moved to Portland from northern California so that she could use the Oregon law to end her life on her own terms or the "Death with Dignity" law. The Guardian reported Maynard told journalists she planned to die Nov. 1 and followed through her plans on Saturday.

However, a Vatican bioethics official strongly denounced on Tuesday that death by assisted suicide just like the case of terminally-ill Brittany Maynard, who ended her life over the weekend, is an undignified "absurdity."  

"This woman (took her own life) thinking she would die with dignity, but this is the error," Pontifical Academy for Life Head Monsignor Ignacio Carrasco de Paula told the Italian news agency, ANSA. "Suicide is not a good thing. It is a bad thing because it is saying no to life and to everything it means with respect to our mission in the world and towards those around us."

"Dignity is something other than putting an end to one's own life," the official added. "Brittany Maynard's act is in itself reprehensible, but what happened in the consciousness we do not know."

The debate surrounding Brittany Maynard's decision of assisted suicide has been anything but silent. But advocates for expanding such laws beyond a few US states assume impetus from the young woman's story to carry into when state legislatures go into session. But, social conservatives like the Vatican remains critical of such laws.

"Suicide is never a good solution, regardless of the situation that one is confronting," American Life League President Judie Brown stated. American Life League is a Catholic group in its philosophy and identity.

Those who opt for assisted suicide often take large doses of drugs like pentobarbital or secobarbital. Typically, the patient who took the drug will fall asleep shortly after ingestion and die within half an hour. In some rare instances, patients have vomited the drug or may regained consciousness after taking it.

Despite Brittany Maynard's intentions on opting for assisted suicide for ending her life a little sooner and in a lot less pain and suffering, the Vatican remains firm that the act is unacceptable and an undignified irrationality.

However, the Vatican emphasized that the official did not mean to pass judgment against Maynard's choice for assisted suicide, rather took issue with her argument that people challenged with devastating, terminal medical conditions should have the liberty to end their lives at a time of their choosing.

pre post  |  next post
More Sections