Pro-Life Canadian Doctors Want to Inform Patients How to Kill Themselves in Canada
by Susan Fox
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Tora joyfully cooking something good
in the late 1940s |
The doctors
conferred. My mother was dying, they concluded.
It was left
to me to talk to her. “Mother, the doctors say you have sepsis and kidney
failure. They say that kidney failure is a comfortable way to die, and they
wondered if you wanted to just let go? ”
To let go
and do what? Why die, of course, comfortably die. The doctors were suggesting
she stop fighting for her life.
Tora
Hutchison was only 82 years old, and death wasn’t on her schedule.
“That is the most ridiculous thing I
have ever heard in my entire life!” she almost shouted. She said it in the same tone of
voice she used when saying, “You haven’t got the sense that God gave a goose!”
So the game
was on. My mother was going to fight for her life. We would shift her to a
better hospital in a bigger city, and she would have her second leg removed so
she might have life. She was in this position because her doctors – out of
false pity – had dillied and dallied and delayed the amputation of her second
leg for a solid year. Now she was dying from it.
My
grandmother had her period every month she was pregnant with my mother, and the
joke among my goofy Scandinavian family was that Mom's head hit the floor when she was
born because Grandma didn’t know she was pregnant! This happened in 1919.
But mother lived,
a premature baby, she said, because grandmother was a good mother, and she,
too, loved life. She passed that trait to her daughter and granddaughter, Mother
and me. Grandma was a U.S. immigrant from Finland. Grandpa was the same from
Norway. Neither of them could speak a single word of the same language when
they got married.
Now almost
100 years after Tora’s birth comes the Supreme Court of Canada legalizing
euthanasia on Feb. 6, 2015, to take effect one year later. In the 1960s, Tora, seeing abortion was about to be legalized, predicted “Euthanasia will be next.” Did she realize she would be swept up in the right to die business? She, who fought for life, her entire life?
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| Angel of Death Comes for Canada |
As I write
this, death has already come for Canadians. Since Feb. 6, 2016, they are
legally free to go to their doctor and ask to be put to death. This puts
Canadian physicians, who still retain a conscience, into a quandary. How can
you write a prescription for death when God said, “Thou Shalt Not Kill.”?
Canadian
physicians with consciences wrote up “The Proposal” to the
Canadian Medical Association. It
was offered by the Christian Medical and Dental Society with the support of
the Canadian Federation of Catholic Physicians' Societies and Canadian Physicians
for Life.
In it, they
developed a “safe” approach to saving their consciences and staying out of
jail. They could not in good conscience refer a patient to be euthanized, but
they could, in fact, inform them that they might self-refer themselves. Patients are
autonomous agents, after all, and able to make their own choices.
In the
physician’s defense, they propose to try and “cure” the patient first of
whatever is causing him to choose death.
But what is
the difference between referring and informing someone about euthanasia? Catholic Theologian
in Training, Lawrence Fox, who grew up on the rough streets of
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| Tora's Son-in-Law Lawrence Fox
|
Baltimore, answered
the question. “You tell them you can’t condone stealing, but you’d be happy to
tell them where there's nobody watching their stuff!”
“I fear
that these Canadian associations, despite their earnest desire to resist
doctor-abetted suicide, have succumbed to defeatism. 'The Proposal' expresses a
willingness to engage in what I understand to be formal co-operation with a
patient’s request for abetted suicide,” said Canadian Witness for Life Mary
Wagner, whose letter regarding euthanasia appeared in this blog Jan. 30, 2016.
She herself
has not chosen the easy way out of this dilemma with respect to abortion. She
sits in the Vanier Centre for Women, a maximum-security prison for women located outside
Toronto, Canada. Her Crime?
She gives
voice to the
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Voice of the Voiceless Mary Wagner
|
child who cannot speak for himself. She uses her freedom to plead gently
with a mother awaiting an abortion for the life of her child. And then under
Canada’s insane “law,” she goes to jail!
However, Canadian Douglas Farrow, writing for the respected First Things magazine, questioned if Mary was
confused? Does Mary Wagner have the “a full grasp of the principles, circumstances, and
strategies in question?” Is she “entirely fair to these associations?” the McGill University theologian inquired. To be fair to
the professor himself, he is as admirable a pro-family martyr himself as
is Mary Wagner. He is outspoken against the new Canadian euthanasia “law” and
he has stood up for traditional marriage and against the blurring of the
distinctions between the sexes.
However, I think he is wrong
if he meant that one could morally inform someone about their right to kill themselves, while
not referring them to be killed.
This is what he said in First Things “I’m not sure that Mary is entirely fair to these (medical) associations, or that she has a full grasp of the principles, circumstances, and
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McGill University Professor Douglas Farrow
writes against same sex "marriage." |
strategies in question, though I won’t try to offer my own analysis of the
Proposal. I will only note, in case you are wondering, that it does draw a
clear line in the sand between informing the patient of all legal options and referring the patient for an option that, while legal, is
most certainly immoral. It roundly condemns the latter as cooperation with
evil, while Mary’s letter condemns the former as well.”
Now Mary Wagner, myself and
Professor Farrow are all Christians. In fact, Mary reminded us of that fact in
her Letter from A Toronto Jail: “We are Christians.
We know that God will not abandon us, even in death. No matter the
circumstance, we are called to witness to the risen Lord with our lives.”
As such we
recognize a form of discernment, which is called putting on the Mind of Christ.
His thinking can be found in Scripture and the Teachings of the Catholic
Church. And in fact I am often dismayed how many times Christians forget to
read the Sermon on the Mount, Matthew chapters 5, 6 and 7 in order to sort out
their moral dilemmas. So I will walk us through the Sermon on the Mount to discover who is right? Mary Wagner in jail for witnessing in an abortion clinic or Professor Douglas Farrow.
Imagine
Jesus going throughout all of Galilee, teaching and healing the sick and
exorcising demons. Seeing He was followed by multitudes, he went up a high
mountain and sat down.
Then He
began to teach the people. What He taught them in Matthew 5-7 is the summary of the whole Old and New Testament. Few people in
Jesus’ day were ready for this thinking, and scant few Christians today pay attention now. We’ve grown indifferent to God’s
manner of thinking. It is so alien to our own.
“You are the salt of the
earth. But if the salt lose its savor, wherewith shall it be salted? It is good
for nothing any more but to be cast out, and to be trodden on by men.” (Matt 5:13) And today here we are
--- Christians who are no longer tasty. We have lost our flavor.
“You have heard that it
was said to them of old: Thou shalt not kill. And whosoever shall kill shall be
in danger of the judgment. But I say to you, that whosoever is
angry with his brother, shall be in danger of the judgment. And whosoever shall
say to his brother, Raca (Idiot), shall be in danger of the council. And
whosoever shall say, Thou Fool, shall be in danger of hell fire.” It isn't just murder that can put us in danger of hell. If we call the driver
engaging in dangerous moves on the freeway a “fool,” we also step closer to the fiery pit. Anger is not pro-life, Jesus tells us.
“You have
heard that it was said to them of old: “Thou shalt not commit adultery. But I say to you, that
whosoever shall look on a woman to lust after her, hath already committed
adultery with her in his heart.” (Matt 5:
27-28) We can’t even look with lust in
our hearts? We thought we were being so good, even faithful to our wives because we didn't act on our lusts.
Christ shows that sin originates in the mind and the heart. So can you explain to a patient how
they can arrange their own death? To tell them euthanasia services are
available and they can self-refer would be to suggest to a vulnerable person
that they could choose to die. And then, have you not in effect invited the person
to examine the option of self-murder, to in effect choose death? Take one step closer to the fiery pit.
I imagine that Professor Farrow thought that we would all agree that it is a good thing to keep a vast number
of Canadian physicians out of prison.
But in fact, if Canada's physicians went to prison, would that not bring down the tyranny of the Canadian
government and end the murder of innocents?
As Christians, we are required to civilly disobey unjust
laws even to the point of prison or death. The 16 Carmelite Martyrs of Compiègne daily offered themselves
as victims to divine justice for the restoration of peace to France and the
church for two long years during the tyranny of the French Revolution. God
accepted their sacrifice. Each and every one of the 16 Carmelite nuns was
beheaded. The terror of the French Revolution ended a few days after their
collective sacrifice.
“Abortion
and euthanasia are thus crimes which no human law can claim to legitimize.
There is no obligation in conscience to obey such laws; instead there is a
grave and clear obligation to oppose them by conscientious objection,” wrote
the prophet Pope Saint John Paul II in the Gospel of Life.
“Human
law is law inasmuch as it is in conformity with right reason and thus derives
from the eternal law. But when a law is contrary to reason, it is called an
unjust law; but in this case it ceases to be a law and becomes instead an act
of violence,” he concluded.
This Canadian
law – euthanasia and abortion –are contrary to right reason, and therefore they
constitute an unjust act of violence. And should the Canadian people in good
conscience find comfortable accommodation with laws that commit violence
against them?
Or
another way for the Christian to answer the question is, “Am I called to love
the Lord my God with my whole heart? Do I love my neighbor as
myself? Or only as much as I love my dog?”
“The Court's
attempt to bully Canadians into accepting suicide under certain conditions in
no way justifies suicide, or any form of co-operation with its process. Again,
as our government tramples on justice, are we not called, in our dialogue and
encounters with others to reaffirm that every human life is sacred, not
counting the cost to ourselves but trusting in God and listening to him?” Mary
Wagner concluded.
Yes! One
thousand times, Yes! We cannot cooperate in any way with the unjust law that
forces physicians to terminate human life! We cannot inform. We cannot refer.
And we cannot kill. Jesus told the multitudes on the mountain, He did not come
to destroy the Law, but to fulfill it! He came so we could live a life of deep
virtue, a form of happiness far surpassing that of the Pharisees or the
scribes, the best people of Jesus’ time!
That is
the sort of happiness Tora knew. She wasn’t pretty. She wore frumpy clothes,
but she embraced a life of suffering and holiness when she converted to
Catholicism in 1953. And in 2001, she stubbornly refused to die when the
doctors were ready for her to give up.
Are you
interested in the end of her story? Well once she reached the big city doctor,
it was too late. He did not dilly nor dally, but he flatly refused to do the amputation
necessary to save her life.
And I was
given two more beautiful weeks in the company of my mother, my dearest friend,
before she died on Friday, June 29, 2001, the feast of Saints Peter and Paul
during the hour of Divine Mercy.
My mother
herself was blinded during the last three weeks of her life from the things
going wrong in her body. The doctors were unsuccessful at instituting kidney
dialysis, although they tried. But through this, she savored life completely. She
was a salty Catholic!
Now many
will say what happiness can anyone have in two weeks of suffering and death?
Many, who want to avoid just such an end, favor euthanasia. But they don’t recognize true happiness. Hers
was the happiness of doing what is right, loving God with her whole heart, and
loving her neighbor as Christ has loved us.
In the
car on the way to the hospital, my husband and I prayed the Rosary. She was
very sick, but she said with joy – as if she was a long ways away from us, “Why
you are praying the Rosary for me!”
I left
her in the hospital room with a tape playing. A song on the Holy Eucharist
written and sung by Catholic artist Simonetta was playing. When I returned to the room, my mother had one
big long tear coming from one eye. She loved. She was happy. The name "Tora" is Norwegian for teardrop. Tears are salty.
I brought
in herbs from my garden, and she teased me, “You didn’t want to garden when you
were young.” But she smelled the herbs with intense enjoyment. Blind, she
taught me that we don’t deny the enjoyment of our senses, but Christ purifies
them.
God accepted her sacrifice. In her
last hour of her life, realization dawned. On
her face she wore such a poignant look of joy and sadness. Yes, she again shed
the one tear. In those last moments, she seemed to realize what she had always
said to me, “Isn’t life good? And then you die.”
But don’t
let anyone push you out the door before it is time.
“Precious in the sight
of the Lord is the death of his saints.” (Psalm 116:15)
Vox Populi! In the Catholic Church, the cause for sainthood can begin with the voice of the people.
Would you like to see Tora Hutchison beatified by the Roman Catholic Church? Please write to her bishop and tell him her story has touched you, asking him to open the cause for her beatification, which is the first step towards canonization. He is keeping a file of letters testifying to her holiness in life.
Please do ask Tora to pray for your intentions! She died on June 29, and my family and I go to Mass every June 29 and ask for big miracles. God has gloriously granted all our requests. We are not the only ones who have been so blessed through her intercession. Report miracles and ask the bishop to begin the process of her beatification. He is:
Paul D. Etienne
Archbishop of Seattle
710 9th Ave.
Seattle, Wash. 98104-2017
U.S.A.
Send a copy of your letter, if you wish to her pastor:
Father Peter Adoko-Enchill
St. Mary Star of the Sea
1335 Blaine Street
Port Townsend, WA 98368
U.S.A.
