Living Wills And Terri Schiavo

One of the issues I beleive needs to be addressed from our pulpits is medial ethics. It is one of the most important in our day and culture. This applies to but is not limited to

How is one to die?
How do we avoid breaking the command to not murder?
In what way is health a public issue and not a private issue?
In what way is health a private issue and not a public issue?
Since we don't unlimited resources to spend on health care, how do we act in a Christian way when we come to the realities of limited resources in regard to those who are suffering from illness and/or are dying?
How does one think as a Christian and as a health care professional?
How do we think as Christians when it comes to filling out a living will?
How do we think as a Christian health care professional in carrying out a living will?


I have a living will. In the document that I filled out there were several choices. One was to use a feeding tube or not. I decided to keep the feeding tube. I decided this before I had heard of Terri. A feeding tube in my humble opinion is not keeping someone alive artificially, it is nutrition. The way a living will may be worded, it might imply removing feeding tube is a good decision. However, a good living will does not mean you pick the shortest route to the undertaker when life threatening situations fall upon you. I do not see King Saul's decision to do himself in as a noble one. (1 Samuel 31) Some people may use a living will as a means of suicide but that is putting the living will in the worst possilbe usage. A living will can also say that you want to fight to a point that would seem to most people pointless holding on to the appearance of life. I think we need to be careful how we talk about living wills. This whole area of ethical thinking is still maturing. We do not have a one size fits all solution. A living will should not be a death mechanism. Ideally a living will should be a person's informed understanding of what they believe is right and how they want to carry out what they believe to be right. We need to see this topic preached on so that the members of God's church do have an informed understanding of what is right.

Note: I believe our sexuality also falls into the area of medical ethics but that would deserve a much longer posting to address it and so I will stick to the issue of respect for human life.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

In The Hours

Image
In The Hours Words by Helen L. Parmelee Music by Kevin Twit http://www.igracemusic.com/hymnbook/lead/inthehours.pdf This song by Indelible Grace is one that really moves me. I think it moves me because it reminds me of my own story. The words remind me of God's work in my life through the blessing of suffering. A lot of my best days walking with my Lord has actually been days of suffering. Verse one reminds me of growing up when I felt rejected by others but God was my song. 1. In the hours of pain and sorrow, When the world brings no relief When the eye is dim and heavy, And the heart oppressed with grief While blessings flee, Savior Lord we trust in Thee! While blessings flee, Savior Lord we trust in Thee! Verse two talks about my drifting from the Lord when I was caught up in pride and the sin of self-sufficiency. 2. When the snares of death surround us, Pride, ambition, love of ease Mammon with her false allurements, Words that flatter, smiles that please Then ere we yield, S...
Read more

Was the New Testament Letters Only Written to Male Brothers?

  Question:   Was the Bible written to men only and not to women?   Some teach that the New Testament letters address brothers exclusively.      Executive Summary Answer:   Women and men share in the blessings of the gospel, Scripture was written for both women and men. So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. (Gen. 1:27 ESV) Answer:   The Bible recognizes differences between genders but also recognizes the commonality between male and female genders.   The book of Proverbs is written to sons to gain wisdom.   “Hear, my son, your father's instruction, and forsake not your mother's teaching, for they are a graceful garland for your head and pendants for your neck.”   (Prov. 1:8-9 ESV) The book of Proverbs was written in order to teach young men wisdom.   Even so, often it is the female gender that teaches wisdom.   Early in the book, the male gender,...
Read more

Life Time Accomplishment

I got the ultimate spam. It is not that I really liked what was written in the e-mail but the address list was impressive. Some of 256 names were unfamilar to me, but the institution domain names were impressive. denverseminary.edu Wheaton.edu calvinseminary.edu fuller.edu Given that some really well known people were on the spam list, I'm assuming that many of these others who were not recognizable to me were none the less, heavy hitters. But those I did know are as follows: Alister McGrath Douglas J. Moo G.I. Williamson RC Sproul Jr RC Sproul John W. Macarthur John Piper Richard L. Pratt Phillip R. Johnson Since I got grouped with these greats on the spam list, I guess I should be flattered to get such spam.
Read more