Here’s a question for the trivia fans out there: According to the preamble of our Declaration of Independence, what three “inalienable rights” are all men endowed with by their creator?
Hopefully you said, “Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” If you’re trying to be a wise guy here, maybe you said, “Well originally it was ‘Life, liberty, and property,’ but…”
But nothing. That stuff doesn’t fly in trivia — not at Pluckers, not at Mellow Mushroom and certainly not here.
Now, on to the next question: what happens if two or more of those things are in conflict?
For example, what if the whole “pursuit of happiness” shtick isn’t really applicable to your life anymore because you’re slowly and painfully dying from a debilitating terminal illness?
Sorry, I know it’s morbid, but it’s a reality some people face — people like 59-year-old Marie Fleming, who was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 1986 and is now entering its final stages.
Fleming, who lives in Ireland, is wheelchair bound, lives in constant pain and is afflicted by frequent choking fits that leave her exhausted.
Unable to help herself and with no chance of recovery, she wants to die peacefully in the arms of her long-term partner, Tom Curran.
Unfortunately for Fleming, there may be no reprieve from the pain. Assisted suicide is illegal in Ireland, although her lawyer is fighting to secure her right to die with dignity at the time of her choosing.
Here’s a tougher question, trivia fans. Why is assisted suicide illegal in Ireland, and, more importantly, in most of the U.S.?
Some objectors take a religious standpoint. “Suicide is not the answer,” they say. “There’s a reason for suffering.”
They might even suggest the Old Testament story of a prosperous and righteous man named Job as an example. God killed Job’s ten children, rained fire on his livestock and let Satan smite him like crazy — all because Satan said Job only loved God because he was blessed.
Toward the end, Job has just about had enough and said, “So that my soul chooseth strangling, and death rather than my life. I loathe it.”
He doesn’t kill himself, though, and finally God gives Job health and a brand new family, because families are interchangeable, right?
However, Fleming’s situation, hardly correlates. As I’ve previously stated, the outcome for Fleming is predetermined. The only variable is how long she’ll suffer. I find it difficult to believe Fleming will find something of spiritual significance just by prolonging that suffering.
Also, we have — at least in theory — separation of church and state. So even a moral opposition to suicide from a religious standpoint shouldn’t affect the government’s ruling on it.
Nonetheless, some might argue legalizing assisted suicide would open the way to abuse of that law.
Fleming’s lawyer Brian Murray said it best: “The fact that other people might break the law and cause involuntarily deaths is not in itself good constitutional justification.”
Furthermore, safeguards are in place in the three states where assisted suicide is already legal — Washington, Montana and Oregon.
In Oregon, for instance, a patient must make two oral requests, one written request, have only six months to live and meet a slew of other requirements meant to prevent any carelessness on the part of the patient and physician.
It’s not a matter that’s taken lightly, and it shouldn’t be.
We place high value on sovereignty, but how much freedom does a person have over his or her life if he or she can’t choose to end it?
Suicide has been stigmatized by our culture, but assisted suicide offers some solace to the infirmed and terminally ill. Approximately 3 to 4 million animals are euthanized each year by the Humane Society. How long until that humanity is extended to willing individuals who would otherwise languish in pain for the remainder of their lives?
