Q&A: Suicide and Euthanasia for a Terminally Ill Patient
Suicide and Euthanasia for a Terminally Ill Patient
Question
Hello Rabbi, my mother is already in the dying stage. The doctor told her that the cancer is stage 4 and asked her if she wanted to be sedated, and she insisted that she did. I don’t know if I have any influence at all over the decision… should I say something?
Maybe I can persuade my mother to decide differently..
Answer
In my opinion, don’t say anything. There are opinions that in situations of intense pain it is permitted even to commit suicide; sedation is an indirect and remote act that only cuts short brief remaining life. In my view, she should decide.
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Questioner:
Thank you very much
Maybe the Rabbi didn’t understand: they are going to raise the dosage little by little until it becomes a lethal dose
When I wrote “sedate,” I used a sanitized term.. they are going to carry out euthanasia
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Rabbi:
Is the pain severe, or is she just simply tired of it all? The dosage of what? Poison? Usually these really are anesthetic/sedative drugs.
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Questioner:
No, extremely severe pain, for quite a long time already. These are probably sedative drugs, which they are going to increase the dosage of until…
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Rabbi:
Then as I said.
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Questioner:
All right, thank you very much
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Rabbi:
May you hear good news, and happy New Year.
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Questioner:
Amen, and likewise to you.
I was mistaken; the person who explained it to me did not explain it well.. they are simply going to sedate her so that she will not feel pain until the illness takes her..
Thanks in any case..
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Rabbi:
That’s what I thought. They don’t do it any other way.