Teach me how to die – dying with dignity in the Judeo/Christian Tradition

Darryl Mackie

St Vincent’s Health Australia

Sustaining Our Values

Αγάπη (love)

Διακονία (Service)

Ειρήνη (Peace)

Sustaining Our Values

Topics that were raised

•Advanced Care Plans/Directives

•How do we discuss with family?

•Teach me how to die

•Euthanasia

Topics that were raised

Teach me how to die?

Show me how to let go!

Teach me how to die…

•Why me?

•What happens to me after I die?

•Will I die with dignity/with pain

Teach me how to die..

Why me?

Teach me how to die..

What happens to me after I die?

Teach me how to die..

Will I die with dignity?

Will I die with pain?

Teach me how to die…

Sustaining Our Values

Αγάπη (love)

Διακονία (Service)

Teach me how to die..

Teach me how to die..

Teach me how to die..Change…

Death =

Passed away

Εὐθανασία =

Good death

Autonomy

-Society’s ethics

-Exposure to the elderly/Vulnerable

-Trust

Medically Assisted Suicide – Jewish Understanding

• Whose body is it?

• Secular viewpoint: It’s mine to do with it as I wish. As long as I don’t hurt anyone else. V’s Totalitarian viewpoint: it belongs to the State.

• Religious viewpoint somewhere in the middle

• Do we need doctors?

- The practice of medicine is a mitzvah, a fundamental religious obligation incumbent upon the Jewish people

- Doctors are instruments of G-d

Medically Assisted Suicide – Christian Understanding

• The principle recognises that life is a precious gift from conception until death, we are uniquely created in the image of God (Genesis 1:27)

• St Paul reminds us in scripture, the life and death of each of us has its influence on others (Romans 14:7)

Euthanasia

Reporter: How hard has it been to convince your loved ones?

Rex: There is no one else. Just me!

Sustaining Our Values

Αγάπη (love)

Διακονία (Service)

Ειρήνη (Peace)

Sustaining Our Values

Peace be

with you….