Stakeholder #2

In the controversy of physician-assisted suicide, there are many people on either side of the argument. The next two blog posts will analyze stakeholders in the controversy.

The Catholic Opposition

Who?

Perhaps the largest opponent of the movement to allow physician-assisted death is the more conservative portion of the Catholic church. Since the crusades, the Catholic church has been one of the most influential voices in issues. Whenever a controversial issue is brought up, the Catholic church and the Pope more specifically, always have an opinion to offer about the topic. Anyone who attends a Catholic church probably knows that as a whole, they tend to have a more conservative stance on more controversial issues such as abortion. As the spokesperson for the entire Catholic faith, the Pope has been known to comment on such issues. Although Pope Francis is a more liberal pope, he did have something to say in disagreement with Brittany Maynard's choice to end her life. Because the Pope is the representative for the Catholic church as a whole, it is his statement that represents the statement that the whole Catholic church would have said.

Han, Jeon. "2014 Pastoral Visit of Pope Francis to Korea" 08/17/2014 via Wikimedia Commons. Attribution-Share Alike License.  

What?

“Is anyone ashamed that we live in a culture where people believe that if they aren’t autonomous or might be a burden on others that they should ingest drugs and die?”-Kirsten Powers

View the whole story here.

"The dominant thinking sometimes suggests a false compassion, that which believes it is helpful to women to promote abortion; an act of dignity to provide euthanasia; a scientific breakthrough to produce a child and consider it to be a right, rather than a gift to welcome; or to use human lives as guinea pigs, presumably to save others." -Pope Francis

View the whole story here. 

"Brittany Maynard’s death is the very stuff of tragedy. A young woman afflicted by an inoperable cancer. A law that offers a “remedy” in the form of physician-assisted suicide. A culture that deludes us into thinking we can, and therefore should, “die on our own terms,” when, obviously, if the terms were ours, we would avoid death altogether. And, the most basic tragedy: a young woman, loved and loving, is no more, the tragedy of death in all its abysmal loneliness." -Michael Sean Winters (Catholic journalist and author of God's Right Hand: How Jerry Falwell Made God a Republican and Baptized the American Right)

View the whole story here.

Why should we listen to them?

I think that the Catholic church considers its opinion to be credible and anyone with a specific religious influence may also find that their opinions have more weight to them. It is important 

to note, however, that the Catholic church bases all of their opinions and thoughts on their religious doctrines, so someone with a non-religious background may find that it is harder to believe them. I would say that their voice is credible even though they base their views on religion, because their concerns are some of the same concerns that even non-religious people have. 

The Catholic Church in relation to everyone else:

The Catholic church is perhaps the extreme opposite of Brittany Maynard's views, however they could be seen as equally as passionate and much less objective than a doctor or medical professional, depending on your views of religion. Although some medical professionals are against the right that a person has to physician-assisted death, they are against it for reasons other than the Catholic church has. They have the least in common with medical professionals who are for physician-assisted death, because of their stance and the objectivity of how they formed their opinions.