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SALT LAKE CITY — A terminally-ill woman’s public decision to use euthanasia to end her life stirred debate over assisted suicide. A Vatican official weighed in on the subject Tuesday.
Brittany Maynard had incurable brain cancer and moved to Portland from California so she could take advantage of the Oregon euthanasia law, according to the Associated Press. She said she wasn't suicidal but wanted to die on her own terms. Maynard died Saturday after taking a lethal medication prescribed by a doctor.
Tuesday, the Vatican's top bioethics official called Maynard’s assisted suicide "reprehensible," according to the Associated Press. Head of the Pontificial Academy for Life, Monsignor Ignacio Carrasco de Paula, told the ANSA news agency that "dignity is something other than putting an end to one's own life."
A board member of the Oregon-based advocacy group Compassion & Choices, Rev. Dr. Ignacio Castuera, responded that Maynard was not Catholic and it would be wrong to impose a set of religious beliefs on people who do not share them, according to the Associated Press.
Prior to the Maynard controversy, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints posted a statement on its website regarding assisted suicide.
“The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints believes in the sanctity of human life, and is therefore opposed to euthanasia,” the statement read. “Euthanasia is defined as deliberately putting to death a person who is suffering from an incurable condition or disease. Such a deliberate act ends life immediately through, for example, so-called assisted suicide. Ending a life in such a manner is a violation of the commandments of God.”
The statement noted, however, that allowing a person to die from natural causes by removing them from life support, as in the case of a long-term illness, does not fall under the definition of euthanasia.
"When dying from such an illness or an accident becomes inevitable, it should be seen as a blessing and a purposeful part of eternal existence," the statement said. "Members should not feel obligated to extend mortal life by means that are unreasonable."
