Don’t Call This MAID (the plague of euthanasia)

When he was a teenager, one of my sons took an interest in horse racing. It was a passing fancy, but for a few years events such as the Kentucky Derby were must-viewing in my house.

A horse named Big Brown won the 2008 Kentucky Derby, but that is not what makes that year’s “run for the roses” memorable. Something tragic occurred live on television. A horse named Eight Belles collapsed on the track during the race. While cameras were capturing the winning celebration, reporters were also trying to get information about the injured horse. Reporters were stunned when the track veterinarian announced on air that the horse broke both front ankles and was promptly euthanized. There was no trip to a veterinary hospital, no surgical intervention. The horse was immediately killed.

Mercy killing has always been understood as appropriate for severely injured animals. However, in many parts of the world now, euthanasia is an acceptable part of “caring” for severely impaired or terminally ill people. In Canada, our neighbor to the north, “Medical Aid in Dying” (MAID) was legalized in 2016. Like abortion in America, euthanasia was sold as something that would be safe, legal, and rare. It would be a merciful aid to people in great pain whose diagnosis was terminal.

Also, like abortion in America, euthanasia in Canada quickly became something other than legal and rare. (Of course, killing someone is never safe.) Medical Aid in Dying is legal and very common. It now accounts for five percent of all fatalities in Canada — one out of every twenty deaths. And it is not limited to the terminally ill facing imminent death. The Canadian Parliament has expanded MAID to include the mentally ill and even minors. (How can such people make responsible life and death decisions?) It some cases, it is employed as a substitute for pain management. Sometimes financial considerations play a part in the decision to euthanize. It is easy to see how a government-controlled socialized medical system would embrace euthanasia as a means of cutting costs and rationing resources.

Many here in the United States advocate for legalized euthanasia after the Canadian model. Thankfully, there are other voices opposing it. For instance, the American Medical Association has stated, “Euthanasia is fundamentally incompatible with the physician’s role as healer, would be difficult or impossible to control, and would pose serious societal risks.” Societal risks indeed.

When God created man, He made him different than that rest of creation. He gave man a distinct dignity and importance when He made man in His own image. (Gen. 1:26, 27) Man is not an animal to be enslaved, to be eaten, or to be euthanized like a dog or a horse. The first law God gave to Noah following the flood was to protect human life made in the image of God. (Gen. 9:5, 6) Among the Ten Commandments given by God to Moses was the command, “Thou shalt not kill.” (Ex. 20:13) This is not just a prohibition. It is protection and an assertion. Human life must be guarded because it is precious.

This understanding makes clear the difference between allowing a person in a terminal condition to die, while providing all possible comfort, and causing a person to die when the quality of their life is diminished.

God is the author and giver of life. “Unto the Lord God belong the issues from death.” (Ps. 68:20) Man cannot determine the time of his birth, nor is it given to him by God to determine the hour of his death.

Euthanasia means literally “good death.” But the word is more than a euphemism. It is a misnomer. Assisted suicide is not good. It is bad — bad medicine and bad theology. It is no mystery that when a society becomes increasingly secular and godless, it begins to assert authority possessed by God alone. And it also begins to devalue what God treasures, such as human life.

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David A. Oliver is the pastor of Ashley Baptist Church in Belding, MI.

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Photo by Nappy on Unsplash