Diocese of Newark Says Suicide May be Morally Acceptable for the Terminally Ill
Episcopal News Service. February 8, 1996 [96-1378]
Dale Gruner, Communications Officer for the Diocese of Newark
(ENS) Committing suicide or helping someone else commit suicide may be morally acceptable for Christians under some circumstances, the Diocese of Newark stated in a resolution approved at the annual diocesan convention January 27.
The resolution, the result of a year-long study by a diocesan task force, calls suicide by a terminally ill patient acceptable when "pain is persistent and/or progressive; when all other reasonable means of amelioration of pain and suffering have been exhausted; and when the decision to hasten death is a truly informed and voluntary choice free from external coercion."
The final wording of the resolution, hammered out during a lengthy debate at the convention, was approved overwhelmingly by an estimated two-thirds of the 600 delegates.
"Assisted suicide is going on all the time," said Bishop John S. Spong of Newark. "What we are doing is bringing the issue out in the open for discussion in the context of our faith tradition."
Opposition to the resolution came primarily from those who argued that the issue needed further study. Other resolutions approved by the convention call for a year of continued education in all congregations of the diocese, with a report prepared for next year's convention.
The convention's action puts the diocese at odds with the position taken to date by the national Episcopal Church. A resolution approved by the national General Convention in 1991 states that "it is morally wrong and unacceptable to take a human life in order to relieve the suffering caused by incurable illness." The same resolution continues, however, to note that "there is no moral obligation to prolong the act of dying by extraordinary means and at all costs if such dying person is ill and has no reasonable expectation of recovery."
Another resolution approved at the same General Convention endorses the use of "living wills," which allow individuals to state their preferences for medical treatment in cases of terminal illness, and supports providing a "peaceful death" that "enables the patient to maintain control and dignity, free from intrusion of unwanted and inappropriate technology." The resolution also calls on the church to continue to study "the complex issues surrounding the quality of life and terminal care, and especially the rightness of refusing lifesaving treatments and the inappropriate use of technology in prolonging the act of dying."
"Medical technology has now enabled us to extend biological life nearly indefinitely, and certainly beyond any quality of life," said Spong, who serves as chairman of the board of directors of Christ Hospital in Jersey City. "So we are already tampering with the normal life and death cycle."
Spong added that "after much internal wrestling, I can now say with conviction that I favor both active and passive euthanasia, and I also believe that assisted suicide should be legalized, but only under circumstances that would effectively preclude both self-interest and malevolence."
The diocesan task force, chaired by the Rev. Dr. Lawrence Falkowski and Dr. Mary Hager, included physicians, nurses, hospital chaplains, attorneys, clergy and lay people. The final report outlined ways Christians can discuss openly the theological, moral and pastoral issues involved in assisted suicide.
"I would like to see a bioethics committee in every community made up of the most respected leaders with no vested interests, to which the family, the patient, if able, physicians and clergy could turn for assistance in making these difficult, personal decisions," Spong said.
Bishop Joe Morris Doss of the Diocese of New Jersey said he welcomed the attention that Newark diocese's action brought to the issue.
"The issue of assisted suicide has been consistently on the front pages of newspapers across the country," he said. "It is time that the religious communities gain their voice and join the discussion on this issue with the focus, intensity and integrity it deserves."
The best outcome of the Newark task force's work, he said, would be increased involvement by the religious community in the debate.
"The Diocese of Newark is jump-starting a multi-layered process that can provide the church with an opportunity to develop a 'theology of dying,'"' he said. The process could also "engage the community of faith in a dialogue with the medical and legal community, and provide moral and pastoral guidance and options for those dealing with physical and spiritual aspects of pain, suffering and death."