Last week, the Dutch Parliament officially legalized what
has been common practice in the Netherlands for many years:
the killing of patients by doctors.
Their illnesses need not even be terminal for patients to
qualify for the now-legal administration of a lethal poison.
And, needless to say, the procedure is not reversible. But
still, there are controls built into the law: patients must
clearly request to die, and their physicians must feel
convinced of their sincerity. Children seeking to have their
lives ended, moreover, can only do so if they are at least
12 years old. And, if under 16, they will need their
parents' approval.
Assisted suicide -- or collaborative homicide -- may not
only produce a wave of nausea but prove the wave of the
future. American doctor Jack Kevorkian (known to many as
"Dr. Death"), has achieved near folk-hero status among some
liberal minded folk. Oregon already permits doctors to help
patients end their lives, though the lethal drugs must be
administered by the patient. And The New York Times
has euphemistically advocated "more humane policies for
easing the last days of the terminally ill" -- leaving the
rubbery phrases "humane policies," "last days" and even
"terminally ill" for future clarification.
According to the Torah, even a moment of human life is
invaluable.
To be sure, Judaism teaches that this life is not all there
is. There is an afterlife, a "World To Come," a time of
ultimate reward and punishment. But this world alone is the
place for accomplishment. And even a tiny slice of time can
be used to accomplish much. A smile can be shared, a kind
word spoken; an apology can be offered, or a regret
confronted; repentance can be achieved or peace made. Even
people who seem unaware of their surroundings or entirely
unconscious may well be functioning inwardly, spiritually,
in meaningful ways.
That is the Jewish understanding of life's inherent worth.
Modern society, however, has a very different take.
From the nearly nonstop portrayals of death and violence in
contemporary media to the carnage on our cities' streets,
the idea of human life as sacred has become increasingly
unfashionable. In a world where youngsters regularly murder
for a car, a pair of shoes or even just "for fun," or where
women routinely decide to stop an unborn baby's heart to
accommodate their own personal or professional goals, an
elderly or infirm person's life just doesn't command the
respect it once did.
Nor have elements of the intelligentsia been hesitant to
assist in the devaluation of human life.
Peter Singer, for example, the famed Professor of Bioethics
at Princeton University's Center for Human Values, has
proposed the termination (even without niceties like
consent) of what he calls "miserable beings" -- people whose
lives he deems devoid of pleasure. His support of
involuntary euthanasia and infanticide is not likely
endorsed by most academicians, but the expansion of once-
fringe ideas is precisely what slippery slopes are all
about.
Professor Singer knows that. Once society jettisons
"doctrines about the sanctity of human life," he predicts,
it will be "the refusal to accept killing that, in some
cases, [will be seen as] horrific."
How tragically ironic -- no, shameful -- that those are the
views of a son of Viennese Jews, refugees of the murder-
machine that was the Third Reich. Or that Israeli artist Uri
Lifschitz, echoing the Nazis' own language, has opined that
society's time and energy should "be directed toward
improving the race, not nurturing the handicapped."
Not mainstream views, perhaps, but they are clearly in the
current of public discourse. And even in contemporary
America, where there is still considerable public aversion
for assisted suicide and euthanasia, doctors report that
both occur in American hospitals much more frequently than
most of us realize. One can only imagine what would happen
if medical killing were given the imprimatur of legality
here it now enjoys in the Netherlands.
We live in times when the elderly and diseased are rapidly
increasing in number. Modern medicine has made great
strides, increasing longevity and providing cures for many
once-fatal illnesses. Add skyrocketing insurance costs and
the resultant fiscal crisis in health care, and life runs
the risk of becoming less a holy, invaluable divine gift
than . . . a commodity.
Societal shifts toward the acceptance of medical murder tend
to happen in stages. As the current shift proceeds in our
country, all Americans would do well to recognize that long
falls often begin with small stumbles. We Jews should
consider as well that we have a responsibility not only to
live our lives in consonance with Torah but also to proclaim
the truths of our holy tradition to the larger world.
Rabbi Avi Shafran is director of public affairs for
Agudath Israel of America and American director of Am
Echad.
