LCMS Convention Workbook St. Louis, Missouri — 1981, Page 409

Transcription machine transcription, uncorrected

⤓ Download .txt · copy text

THEOLOGICAL DOCUMENTS

IV. GUIDING PRINCIPLES

The previous pages have set forth the major arguments against the practice
of euthanasia as mercy killing. From this extensive discussion it is possible to
formulate some general principles that will serve as guidelines for working
one’s way through the vast array of ethical questions raised not only by the
very speed of advances made in the technology of medicine but also by forces
at work in our culture which tend to relativize all moral considerations as they
apply to the central issues of life. Accordingly, a set of guiding principles is here
appended to help individual Christians and groups of the faithful in their
Tesponse to the issues which confront us in this area:

1. Euthanasia, in its proper sense, is a synonym for mercy killing, which
involves suicide and/or murder. It is, therefore, contrary to God’s Law.

Attempts have been and continue to be made to soften the impact of
euthanasia as an evil by using modifiers such as “‘passive’’ or “negative” and
Proceeding from there to distinguish between active and passive euthanasia.
These definitions tend to dull people's sensitivities to ethical considerations by
relativizing moral principles as these apply to matters of life and death.

2. As Creator, God alone knows with certainty whether a disease or an
injury is incurable.

Instances have been cited in this study to show that medical personnel often
have no way of being able to foretell the outcome of treatment administered
under circumstances that seerned quite hopeless. The extraordinary advances
made in medical technology provide new resources that are useful in making
life and death decisions. Yet these decisions, too, fall within God's ultimate
providence and grace. In the last analysis, He is the only healer.

3. When the God-given powers of the body to sustain its own life can no
longer function and doctors in their professional judgment conclude that there
is no real hope for recovery even with life-support instruments, a Christian
may in good conscience “‘let nature take its course."

The power to sustain life refers to the period of time preceding the point in
the process of dying when irreversibility has set in. When that moment of no
retum has been reached, the discontinuance of what have been called
extraordinary or heroic means for prolonging life is not normally a violation of
God's Law. It belongs to the category of proper medical care rather than to
the issue of euthanasia. In point of fact, the application of such unusual
measures could be construed as a technological stretching of existence
beyond the powers with which the Creator Himself endowed the patient in
question.

In seeing a God-pleasing conclusion in this matter, the following persons
should normally be involved in the final decision:

28

a. The patient (if capable of discussing the facts) to help in determining the
general reaction to bodily strength and suffering and in making a deci-
sion that is legally and morally acceptable;

b. The doctor to help determine whether support systems are still helpful
and whether there is any hope for recovery.

c. The nearest of kin to gain concurrence in decisions reached;

d. The pastor to give spiritual guidance and counsel in reference to treat-
ment and care and to provide spiritual assistance and comfort and
support.

4. Administering pain-killing medications, even at the risk of shortening life,
is permissible, since this does not entail the choice of death as either a means
or an end.

5. It is good ethical procedure for the doctor to request and receive a state-
ment signed by the patient, if competent to consent, or by the nearest of kin,
agreeing to the uselessness of further ‘heroic efforts” and consenting to termi-
nation of treatments.

6. Each person, no matter how infirm and socially useless he or she may
appear to be, deserves to be accepted as a being created in the image of
God.

Accordingly, medical personnel are expected not to treat a given patient as
a mere case. They will, on the contrary, show concem and care in the treat-
ment of even the most hopelessly ill. No person enjoys autonomy of exis-
tence. Patients may, therefore, not be treated as though they were units of
matter, disposable either on their own terms or on the basis of the judgment of
others who may be tempted to view an incurable patient in terms of conve-
nience or utility.

7. While suffering is an intrusion into life, it provides the opportunity for
Christian witness and service.

Suffering provides the occasion for others, particularly members of the
family and of the Christian community, to attend the sick and the dying as a
way of exhibiting the kind of care which will help the patient to retain a sense
of worth. Such acts of kindness will help to relieve the kind of loneliness which
may tempt one to ask that life be ended prematurely.

8. Often the time prior to death is so wrapped in mystery that no one ought
forcibly to interrupt the movement of man’s spirit as it may be communicating
through God's Spirit with his Creator and Redeemer by way of responding in
trust and inner yeaming.

9. Death is not merely a physical but a crucial spiritual event for each
person. The church's means of grace, therefore, ought to be within easy
availability for purposes of consoling the dying and preparing them for the
high adventure of crossing over into life eternal. With proper consultation
between pastor and doctor, arrangements can be made for receiving the full
benefits of spiritual help also in the case of patients requiring heavy doses of
drugs for medication. Doctors can arrange for periods of medical relaxation to

29

make possible the proper administration of the means of grace.

10. Any decisions made in this highly complex area, and any actions taken
that may later appear to have been wrong, have been redeemed by that
forgiveness which is available to all who put their trust in the work and merits
of mankind’s Savior and Redeemer. Such forgiveness, proclaimed by the
church as it properly distinguishes between Law and Gospel, constitutes a
potent cure for any feelings of guilt that may plague individuals making deci-
sions in this very sensitive area of life as response to God's actions as Creator,
Redeemer and Sanctifier.

11. The spiritual and moral questions raised by the issue of euthanasia are
of such a nature that their evaluation is an enterprise touching on the very
survival of the basic principles which undergird the integrity of our Christian
faith and the survival of our cultural heritage. They constitute the primary
spiritual and moral crucible of this age.

12. Christians are obligated to make their position known, by whatever
means possible, as a way of helping to shape public opinion on the question of
euthanasia.

The present confused state of affairs places a special burden on all Persons
of moral principle to use the ‘“‘marketplace,”’ giving expression to their convic-
tions with a view to eliminating confusion for the purpose of formulating such
legislation regarding medical practices as do not violate God’s Law. In under-
taking these responsibilities it is imperative to remain firm on the principles and
Clear in the use of terminology.

409