“Thou shalt not kill” (Exodus 20:13).
MODERN HISTORY OF EUTHANASIA
Since the last half of the Twentieth Century we have witnessed a
dramatic increase in the number of headlines focusing on the “right-to-die” or
euthanasia issue. (Euthanasia means “good death”.) Consider just a few of these:
In 1968, a Harvard Medical School committee stated that “irreversible coma” is
a criterion for death.
In 1974, the Society for the Right to Die was founded in America.
In 1976, in a landmark ruling, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the New
Jersey Supreme Court ruling that 21-year-old Karen Quinlan could be removed
from the respirator she had been on for two years. Doctors decreed that she was
in an “irreversible coma”.
In October 1976, California became the first state to legalize the right for
“terminally ill” persons to authorize withdrawal of life-sustaining medical
treatment when “death is believed to be imminent”. Within one year, seven other
states had “right to die” laws.
In 1985, the New Jersey Supreme Court ruled that ALL life-sustaining medical
treatment can be withheld from terminally ill patients, whether incompetent or
competent. In that ruling the court defined feeding tubes as “medical treatment”.
In 1985, a Virginia woman who killed her cancer-ridden husband with an ice pick
was sentenced to a mere two years’ probation and psychiatric treatment.
In 1986, the Massachusetts Supreme Court ruled to allow a woman to stop the
feeding of her comatose husband.
In 1987, the New Jersey Supreme Court ruled unanimously that an alert, mentally
competent but dying woman, suffering from Lou Gehrig’s disease, a fatal nerve
disorder, should have been allowed to order her respirator disconnected. The
woman had died a few days before her case reached the Court. The same court
ruled to allow a man to remove the feeding tube from his 32-year-old wife.
In 1988, a U.S. District Court in Rhode Island ruled that the feeding tube
could be removed from a 49-year-old woman. The woman was in a coma as a result
of a brain hemorrhage, and since she could not swallow, she received
nourishment and liquids through a feeding tube. Her family had sued in court to
compel the hospital to terminate her food and water. The medical workers who were
caring for the woman were unanimous in opposing the action, but the court
ordered them to remove the tubes so the woman would starve to death.
A man severely crippled by a 1985 motorcycle accident went to court in an
attempt to gain the “right” to kill himself. In 1989, the Georgia Supreme Court
unanimously ruled that he could kill himself by shutting off the breathing
apparatus that kept him alive.
The parents of Nancy Cruzen, a young woman who suffered severe brain damage in
a 1983 car crash, spent three and a half years in court in an attempt to remove
the feeding tube that was keeping her alive. Though severely disabled, Nancy
was not comatose nor did she require any life-support equipment. She even
smiled at funny stories and cried when visitors would leave. In spite of this,
on December 14, 1990, County Circuit Court Judge Charles E. Teel, Jr., ordered
Nancy’s caregivers to withhold all food and water. Twelve days later, the
33-year-old woman died of dehydration.
On June 4, 1990, Jack Kevorkian claimed his first victim when he assisted in
the administration of a lethal dosage of drugs to 54-year-old Janet Adkins. She
was in the early stages of Alzheimer’s, and her own doctor said she had at
least ten years of productive life ahead. She had never met or talked with
Kevorkian until she arrived in Michigan two days before her death. All
arrangements were made by her husband, Ron, (64) who subsequently became
president of the Oregon Hemlock Society. In the year before her death, Janet
Adkins and her family were counseled by a family therapist who was coordinator
of the Oregon Hemlock Society. According to an aunt, “She did not want to be a
burden to her husband and family” and a friend explained, “She felt it [her
death] was a gift to her family, sparing them the burden of taking care of her”
(“The Real Jack Kevorkian, International Anti-Euthanasia Task Force,
http://www.iaetf.org/fctkev.htm). Kevorkian, who went on to participate in a
reported 137 assisted suicides, does not have a license to practice medicine.
His Michigan license was suspended in 1991 and his California license was
suspended in 1993. According to the California Attorney General’s office,
Kevorkian is “fundamentally unfit to practice medicine” (California Medical
Board, Complainants Brief, Dec. 28, 1993, p. 19). Kevorkian
proposed an “auction market for available organs” taken from “subjects” who are
“hopelessly crippled by arthritis or malformations”. Part of the money from the
euthanized person’s auctioned organs could go to relatives whose financial
burdens would be eased and “their standard of living enhanced”.
A poll of adults conducted by CNN/USA Today/Gallup Poll published January 1991
found that 58% of Americans believe doctors ought to be allowed to help a
terminally ill patient die if the patient asks for assistance.
On October 23, 1991, 58-year-old Marjorie Wantz became Jack Kevorkian’s second
victim, dying of a lethal dose of drugs administered by Kevorkian’s “death
machine”.
Marjorie had no life-threatening condition. The autopsy found that she
had no illness or disease. She had complained of pelvic pain, but though a
number of physicians had advised her that the pain was manageable she did not
follow through with their recommendations. “She had reportedly been taking extremely
large doses of Halcion (a medication known to impair judgment) in the months
preceding her death. She had been hospitalized for psychiatric care on a number
of occasions”. Kevorkian did not even give the woman a medical examination. On
the same day, Kevorkian assisted in the suicide of Sherry Miller, age 43. She
had multiple sclerosis and could have lived for many years but said she felt
she was “becoming a burden on people”. She had been suffering from depression
which had been noted five years earlier. She did not want to take the
medication that had been prescribed for depression. She testified that she no
longer had any quality of life. Her death was to have been from a lethal dose
of drugs but, after repeated attempts and punctures to her arm, Kevorkian
couldn’t insert a needle into her veins. He left her waiting for four hours at
the death site while he “went to town” to get supplies so he could rig her
death by carbon monoxide poisoning (“The Real Jack Kevorkian, International
Anti-Euthanasia Task Force, http://www.iaetf.org/fctkev.htm).
In 1994, Oregon became the first state in America to allow physician-assisted
suicide. Voters approved a “Death with Dignity” referendum. The law allowed
patients to request life-ending medication if a doctor determines that they
have less than six months to live. The law was upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court
in 2006.
A forum on end-of-life issues held in New York City in November 1996 noted that
the preferred means of euthanasia today is starvation. The participants
observed that it is legal for patients to refuse treatment, including
nutrition, and doctors may legally offer painkillers and other comfort as these
patients die. Therefore, “every single piece of the recipe is legal”.
In October 1996, Australia’s Northern Territory allowed the world’s first
legally assisted suicide. Bob Dent, 66, who was suffering from cancer, was
allowed to take deadly drugs under a euthanasia law passed on May 25, 1996. (At
the time, thousands of assisted suicides were performed every year in The
Netherlands, but technically they weren’t legal. They were allowed under
loopholes in the law. Doctors who follow “strict guidelines” were guaranteed
immunity.)
In a Canadian national study reported in September 1996, almost half of all doctors
surveyed said the law should be changed to allow physician-assisted suicide. In
the survey, 47% of doctors supported euthanasia, while 39% were opposed, and
11% were uncertain.
In March 1996, a 62-year-old New York man was sentenced to just six months in
jail (he was expected to serve only four) for killing his wife, who had
multiple sclerosis, with an antidepressant mixed with honey. He claimed it was
assisted suicide, and a note left by the wife said she drank the potion “freely
and without reservations”; but prosecutors also discovered that he had kept a
diary indicating he was tired of caring for her and was eager for her death.
In February 1996 the Episcopal diocese of Newark, New Jersey, declared that
suicide and assisted suicide may be morally acceptable under some
circumstances, i.e., when “pain is persistent and/or progressive; when all
other reasonable means of amelioration of pain and suffering have been
exhausted; and when the decision to hasten death is a truly informed and
voluntary choice free from external coercion”.
According to a study released in the New England Journal of Medicine in
1996, one in five intensive-care nurses had hastened the death of terminally
ill patients. The study was based on responses by more than 850 nurses to an
eight-page questionnaire administered by Dr. David Asch of the University of
Pennsylvania.
In early 1999, the Oregon Health Division presented its analysis of the state’s
first year under the Oregon Death with Dignity law. According to the OHD’s
study, 23 patients received legal lethal drug prescriptions between 1/1/98 and
12/31/98. Of those patients, 15 actually took the deadly drugs and died, six
died from their illnesses without taking the lethal prescription, and two were
still living as of 1/1/99. Of the 15 patients who died from the lethal drugs,
seven were women, eight were men, all 15 were white, 13 had cancer, one had
congestive heart failure, and one had chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.
The median age was 69. Four were referred for a psychiatric or psychological
consultation. The International Anti-Euthanasia Task Force warned that this
information is “skewed and incomplete”. The reason is that the law contains no
penalties for doctors who do not comply with its requirements and there is no
way to determine if the reporting is accurate. “The data for this study came
exclusively from the death-prescribing doctors, with no corroboration from
other sources. In fact, the OHD, citing privacy concerns, never even
interviewed the patients’ families, friends, or caregivers regarding the
circumstances and/or pressures surrounding the deaths. Nor did the OHD contact
the patients’ other doctors who, for some reason, opted not to write the deadly
prescription. In other words, the state is just assuming that doctors engaged
in ending the lives of patients are of good will, have been totally compliant
with the provisions of the PAS law, and are completely truthful and forthright
in their reports to the state. But why would a doctor even bother to report a less-than-perfect
death, one which might cause legal and professional problems for that doctor
with the OHD, the state medical licensing board, or even the police?”
A report published in February 1999 showed that Dutch physicians routinely
ignore established euthanasia guidelines created to protect patients against
abuse. “The reality is that a clear majority of cases of euthanasia, both with
and without request, go unreported and unchecked. Dutch claims of effective
regulation ring hollow”, explained researchers Dr. Henk Jochemsen, of Holland’s
Lindeboom Institute for Medical Ethics, and Dr. John Keown, from England’s
Cambridge University. Reviewing a 1996 survey of 405 Dutch doctors regarding
end-of-life decisions, the researchers found that, in 1995, almost two-thirds
(59%) of euthanasia cases went unreported, a clear violation of the
requirement--codified into law in 1994--that all euthanasia and
assisted-suicide deaths be reported to authorities. Furthermore, 20% OF
REPORTED EUTHANASIA DEATHS WERE INVOLUNTARY, meaning that doctors ended
patients’ lives without the patients’ explicit request or consent. In 15% of
these cases (where the patients were competent), the physician did not discuss
euthanasia with the patient because “the doctor thought that the termination of
the patient’s life was clearly in the patient’s best interests”. In 17% of the
involuntary euthanasia cases, alternative care or treatment was available,
meaning that euthanasia was not the “last resort” as required by the guidelines
(Keown & Jochemsen, “Voluntary Euthanasia under Control? Further Empirical
Evidence from the Netherlands”, Journal of Medical Ethics, February
1999).
In March 1999, a Michigan jury found Dr. Jack Kevorkian guilty of murder for
the September 1998 death of 52-year-old Thomas Youk. The man was suffering with
amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). Kevorkian, who video-taped the death,
killed Youk by injecting him with a lethal series of drugs. The video was
subsequently broadcast on the 60 Minutes television show. During
the broadcast, Kevorkian challenged Michigan prosecutors to charge him, and
they did, not merely for assisted suicide but for first-degree murder. At the
trial it was pointed out that just before Kevorkian injected Youk with a drug
that rendered him unconscious, Youk attempted to speak but was ignored by
Kevorkian. Prosecutor John Skrzynski noted: “We don’t know what he said, and
it’s too late now because he’s gone now, he’s asleep and he’s never getting up
again. What did he say? Did he say ‘wait’? Did Dr. Kevorkian have a duty to
stop and find out what he was saying?” In a media interview in November 1998,
Kevorkian was asked if Youk had anything to say at the end. He just laughed and
said, “I don’t know. I never understood a thing he said” (Lessenberry, “I want
a showdown”, Oakland Press, Nov. 20, 1998). When the jury announced
its guilty decision, Kevorkian attempted to look unruffled in the courtroom,
but after he got in the car away from the camera “he exploded, screaming with
anger, rage and frustration at the irrationality and cruelty and backwardness
of society”. In April 1999, Kevorkian was sentenced to 10 to 25 years in
prison. The 79-year-old “Dr. Death” was released conditionally in June 2007.
In 2001, the Netherlands legalized euthanasia.
In 2002, Belgium legalized euthanasia.
In January 2005, the United States Supreme Court let stand a ruling by Pinellas
[Florida] Circuit Court Judge George Greer allowing Michael Schiavo to cut off
his wife Terri’s feeding tube. Terri, 41, had been dependent on the tube since
suffering a heart stoppage 15 years earlier. Terri’s parents fought to stop
their son-in-law from disconnecting the tube. Though Terri had brain damage,
she was not dying, could breathe on her own, and exhibited many signs of being aware
of her environment. This was testified by her nurses and by medical experts.
The courts, both state and federal, allowed Schiavo to starve his wife to
death. Her feeding tube was removed on March 18, 2005, and she died on March
31.
In 2008, Washington and Oregon became the second and third U.S. states to
legalize physician-assisted suicide. In Washington, it was approved by a voter
referendum, and in Montana, it was imposed by a judge.
In May 2010 the following testimony was published in the Washington
Times: “One night I received a call from my family in Florida that Dad was
dying. I was told that I should get there fast. My husband and children and I
quickly made the trip for what we feared would be our final goodbyes. Dad was
in very bad shape. He suffered from severe heart problems, failing kidneys and
a damaged liver. From the first moments of arriving at the hospital, a nurse
pulled me aside and said I should sign a ‘do not resuscitate order.’ ‘If his
heart stops,’ she said, ‘it would be cruel and painful to try and resuscitate
him in his condition.’ I told her in no uncertain terms that I would not sign
the order. The nurse also approached my sister with the same intensity. I soon
discovered that a family friend had been cornered in the hallway and told she
should persuade a family member to sign the order. ... I’ll never forget how my
father looked up at me with worried eyes as he told me he had been approached
numerous times by the staff to sign the order. ... My father was released
several days later to be with his family. He was expected by the medical staff
to die at any moment. But they were wrong. ... He began recovering: His kidney
function doubled, his liver returned to a healthy state, and his heart grew
strong enough to have a pacemaker implanted that gave him a new lease on life.
Because we were firm in our belief that life is precious, that medical
professionals should not withhold basic procedures that can save lives, Dad had
the opportunity to live. My father was a physician for nearly 45 years. DURING
HIS PRACTICE, HE WATCHED IN DISBELIEF AS MEDICINE BEGAN TO CHANGE FROM A
‘HEALING ART’ THAT FOCUSED ON ‘THE GOOD OF THE PATIENT’ TO A ‘SCIENCE’ THAT
WORKS FOR THE ‘GOOD OF SOCIETY.’ ... I originally shared this story about my
dad several years ago, but it is incredibly relevant to what is happening
today. The euthanasia movement has infiltrated the medical community for many
years, and with the new government-run health care program that is killing
freedom and insurance and care choices, it is certain that the elderly and very
ill will be the primary victims of medical care rationing” (Rebecca Hagelin,
“Impatience with Patients”, Washington Times, May 24, 2010).
In June 2012, a senior doctor in Britain issued the following warning that palliative
care is being used in England as a cover for euthanasia. “Professor Patrick
Pullicino has claimed that DOCTORS ARE USING A CARE PATHWAY DESIGNED TO HELP
MAKE PEOPLE'S FINAL DAYS MORE COMFORTABLE AS AN EQUIVALENT TO EUTHANASIA. The
Liverpool Care Pathway (LCP) is used in hospitals for patients who are
terminally ill or are expected to die imminently. Under the pathway, doctors
can withdraw treatment, food and water while patients are heavily sedated.
Almost a third of patients--130,000--who die in hospital or under NHS care a
year are on the LCP. Professor Pullicino said he believed the LCP was being
used as an ‘assisted death pathway’ with patients placed on the LCP without
clear evidence, according to the Daily Mail. The senior consultant
at East Kent Hospitals told the Royal Society of Medicine he had personally
intervened to have a 71-year-old man taken off the LCP and be treated
successfully, despite claims he was expected to die within hours or days. He
had arrived in hospital with pneumonia and epilepsy. ‘I removed the patient
from the LCP despite significant resistance,’ he said. ‘His seizures came under
control and four weeks later he was discharged home to his family. The lack of
evidence for initiating the Liverpool Care Pathway makes it an assisted death
pathway rather than a care pathway.’ Professor Pullicino said the 71-year-old
man lived for another 14 months before he suffered pneumonia again and was
admitted to a different hospital. He was put on the LCP and died five hours
later. ‘Very likely many elderly patients who could live substantially longer
are being killed by the LCP. Patients are frequently put on the pathway without
a proper analysis of their condition,’ he added. ‘Predicting death in a time
frame of three to four days, or even at any other specific time, is not
possible scientifically. This determination in the LCP leads to a
self-fulfilling prophecy. The personal views of the physician or other medical
team members of perceived quality of life or low likelihood of a good outcome
are probably central in putting a patient on the LCP’” (“Elderly Patients
‘Helped to Die to Free up Beds,’ Warns Doctor”, London Telegraph,
June 21, 2012).
In 2013, Vermont became the fourth U.S. state to legalize physician-assisted
suicide.
In February 2014, Quebec became the first province in Canada to legalize
euthanasia.
In March 2014, Belgium legalized euthanasia for “terminally and incurably ill”
children.
In February 2015, Canada’s Supreme Court struck down the federal prohibition
against physician-assisted euthanasia and gave the federal and provincial
governments 12 months to introduce legislation to permit the practice.
What should the Bible-believer think of this rapid move toward the legalization
of euthanasia?
It is a complex issue, and we find it impossible to give a blanket answer for
every situation, yet there are some Bible truths that clearly apply, and in
this hour of moral relativism it is essential that we point them out.
MEDICAL SCIENCE IS NOT INFALLIBLE
Consider, first, that medical science is not infallible. Because of the
marvelous advances that have been made in medicine in recent decades, it is
possible to forget how little man still really knows about the body, mind, and
soul.
This can easily be proven: Consider how frequently doctors disagree in their
diagnosis and proposed treatment. Consider how frequently they are wrong.
Consider how really limited they are, how often they fail to cure.
And isn’t it true that God often intervenes and does miracles of healing for
which medical science cannot account? Though we do not believe God is healing
today through sign gifts as He did in apostolic times, we do believe God heals
in answer to prayer according to James chapter five. And He often performs
healings that force even unsaved doctors to admit that something occurred that
was beyond their knowledge and power.
Yes, medical science is fallible and often wrong, and it is necessary to
remember this when considering the euthanasia issue.
There have been many cases of those diagnosed as being in “irreversible” comas
and of being “brain dead” who regained consciousness and recovered their
health. A vegetative state is considered persistent if it lasts more than a
month, and after a year, it is labeled “permanent”.
(We do not intend to imply that amazing recoveries happen most of the time.
Between 10,000 to 25,000 adults and 6,000 to 10,000 children in the U.S. are
diagnosed each year as being in “persistent vegetative states”. Most of these
do not awaken, and the majority die within six months.)
The exceptions, though, remind us of the fallibility of modern medical science
and of the necessity of extreme caution.
The wife of independent Baptist Evangelist Tom Williams had “the worst case of
spinal meningitis on record”. She was hospitalized in a coma, and her husband
visited her every day. He prayed with her, read the Bible, and left tapes to be
played when he was not with her. A friend gave her a stuffed animal to keep her
company and named it “Rainbow”, the sign of God’s covenant with Noah after the
Flood. A year later she emerged from her coma and spoke the words, “His name is
Rainbow”. The wonderful story of this recovery is recorded in Evangelist
William’s book Twice Given.
In March 1980, Matthew Graff of Burbank, California, awoke after being in a
“vegetative state” for 13 months after surgery for hydrocephalus, the swelling
of the brain. Between August 1978 and October 1979 he had 17 brain surgeries,
and by the time he awoke his fingers and feet were curled back from tendon
atrophy and lack of use and his body weight had dropped from 165 pounds to 110.
After extensive speech therapy and physical rehabilitation, he recovered (“An
Incredible Recovery Story”, http://members.aol.com/__121b_ywR5esSZPGcCraft3kjNKZvvawlZ/VDNRzeiBbk+YFQ=).
(Note: The first edition of this report was published in 1991 and has been
frequently updated and enlarged, and it contains some web links that are no
longer active.)
In May 1986, 44-year-old Jacqueline Cole of Baltimore, Maryland, awoke from a
condition her doctors had diagnosed as a “persistent vegetative state”. After
weeks had passed in that condition, her family had petitioned a court to grant
permission to disconnect her life support, but the judge denied this,
explaining, “She was not legally brain dead. We are dealing with a live person”.
Six days after this judicial ruling, Jacqueline woke up. A friend had come to
pay his last respects, and when he took her hand and said, “Hello”, she opened
her eyes and smiled at him (Rocky Mountain News, Denver, Colorado,
November 21, 1986).
On December 14, 1987, 32-year-old Don Hamilton of Minnesota came out of a coma
he had been in since a hunting accident nearly two months earlier. When he had
arrived seven weeks earlier at North Memorial Medical Center in Robbinsdale,
Minnesota, doctors had said that he appeared to be “brain dead” (“All the
mysteries of life and death aren’t covered in medical books”, Star
Tribune, Minneapolis, Dec. 26, 1987, p. 1A).
In 1988, the mother of Pastor Terry Coomer (Hope Baptist Church, North Little
Rock, Arkansas) suffered a heart attack and was without oxygen to her brain for
more than five minutes. She went into a coma and throughout that night had
seizures every few minutes. Several brain specialists told the family that she
would never regain consciousness and would be a “vegetable” for the rest of her
life. Her major organs had shut down, and she was on a breathing ventilator.
For months she remained in that condition, with her husband stopping by the
hospital each day to talk to her, when she suddenly woke up! Pastor Coomer
testifies: “I was called to the hospital and she talked to me. She told me how
much she loved me and how she was going to miss seeing her grandchildren grow
up. She also talked about knowing that she was going to die and about the home
that she had in heaven. She asked why this had happened to her. I told her I
did not know, but I knew God loved her and had a place prepared for her. We
prayed together, and I hugged her and told her how much I loved her. Ten days
later, she went into the presence of her Lord. I asked the neurologist how they
could make such a mistake. He told me the brain is different than any other
organ, meaning that it is more difficult to predict what will happen to the
brain than with other organs. I can testify to that. I am glad we were not persuaded
to pull the plug even though I was told over and over, ‘She has no quality of
life.’ I am thankful we left the decision of her life in the hands of the Lord
rather than those who thought it was okay to kill”.
In March 1988, 62-year-old Earl Lanning of Michigan awoke from a coma he had
been in for 10 years since suffering a brain hemorrhage (“Earl Lanning revives
from ten-year coma”, Penasee Globe, Penasee, Michigan, March 23,
1988).
In December 1988, there was another amazing case involving the recovery of one
who was “brain dead”. Barbara Blodgett, a 24-year-old Washington state woman
who had been in a deep coma for more than five months, gave birth to a healthy
baby boy and then came out of the coma and began making gradual progress toward
recovery. When she was thirteen weeks pregnant on June 30, 1988, Barbara was
severely injured when the car she was riding in was struck by a drunk driver.
Her cousin was killed in the crash, and Barbara suffered head injuries so
severe that doctors proclaimed she was in a state of “cerebral death”. Yet by
January 1989, she was asking questions, forming words, recognizing her family
and friends, and helping in small ways to care for her newborn baby. Barbara
spelled out the following message by pointing to letters on a piece of paper:
“Never give up” (USA Today, Feb. 14, 1989).
On January 19, 1989, nine-year-old Ryan Atencio awoke from a coma he had been
in for more than five weeks after receiving massive head injuries in an
automobile accident. Dr. Eustaquio Abay of St. Francis Regional Medical Center
in Wichita, Kansas, said, “There was no brain function. Three or four times
we’d seen the pulse go down to zero--no circulation at all to the brain for 30
minutes on end” (“Boy who has ‘gone’ opens his eyes and squeezes mom’s hand”,
UPI, Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Jan. 26, 1989, p. A3).
In April 1989, 86-year-old stroke victim Carrie Coons awoke from a
four-and-a-half month “irreversible vegetative state” and began talking and
eating on her own. Just prior to this, a judge had given permission for the
removal of her feeding tube. Dr. Michael L. Wolff said he was at a loss to
explain what had happened other than to wonder about “the existence of miracles
or the resilience of the human spirit” (“Right-to-Die Order Revoked as Patient
in Coma Awakes”, The New York Times, April 13, 1989).
That same month in 1989, 18-year-old Brent Doyle awoke from a two-month coma
stemming from a motorcycle crash. Days after the accident his brain showed no
activity. His father said, “A lot of doctors had really given up on him” (“Man
wakes from coma”,Rocky Mountain News, Apr. 13, 1989).
In May 1989, 39-year-old Paul Cullinan of Toronto, Canada, began to speak after
being in a coma for 17 months after being shot in the forehead at close range.
Doctors had given little chance of recovery (“Shooting victim out of coma”, The
Toronto Star, July 28, 1989, p. A8).
In December 1989, 24-year-old Colin Pierce of Massachusetts began to talk after
seven years of only “minimal responses” stemming from brain injury he had
suffered in a November 1982 automobile crash. The family had never given up
hope and had kept talking to him (“After seven years, son can speak”, The
Boston Globe, Jan. 30, 1990).
On December 15, 1990, 53-year-old Yolanda Blake of New Jersey awoke from a coma
just one day after a judge ruled that the hospital need not follow the request
of the woman’s friend and her sister that she be given life-support measures,
including a feeding tube. “Yolanda, who had been diagnosed with colon cancer in
1987, suffered severe blood loss for unknown reasons and collapsed on November
30, 1990, while vacationing. She was taken to Pocono Medical Center in East
Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania. Contending that Yolanda had told them not to use any
‘extraordinary measures’ to keep her alive, doctors at the medical center did
not insert either a feeding tube or a urinary catheter. When her friend, Richard
Harley, protested the lack of treatment, the hospital took the case to court. A
Monroe County judge ruled in favor of the hospital, saying that Yolanda should
be allowed to ‘die with dignity.’ When she awoke, Yolanda was asked if she
wanted to live. ‘Of course I do,’ she replied. She also insisted on ‘the best
possible’ care and a transfer to another hospital that would provide it” (Liz
Townsend, “Woman Denied Food Awakes from Coma”, National Right to Life
News, Jan. 8, 1991, pp. 1, 24).
In 1991 Pastor Frank Johnson of Midland, Texas, was called to the hospital
bedside of a church member who was on life support. The family was going to
“pull the plug”, and they wanted their pastor present. A few months later that
church member was back in church in his accustomed place in the Sunday morning
service. In reporting this, theBaptist Bible Tribune, for March 1992,
notes, “There is no question but that we need to discover the ethics of the
plug”.
In March 1991, 26-year-old Conley Holbrook of North Carolina regained
consciousness from a coma he had been in since being brutally beaten eight
years earlier and identified his attackers. His joyful mother said: “I was
astonished. I never gave up on him. This is just a miracle. It’s good to have
him home talking” (“Beaten man beats coma, fingers pair of suspects”,
Associated Press, March 6, 1991).
On May 31, 1991, nine-year-old Mitchell Berman awake from a coma he had been in
for five months “due to hemalytic-uremic syndrome”. His first words to his
mother were, “I want a hot dog”. Dr. Geof McPhee, director of pediatrics at New
Medico Rehabilitation and Skilled Nursing Center, Slidell, Louisiana, said he
was progressing phenomenally (“Boy's complaints welcome after coma”, The
Forum, Fargo-Moorhead, South Dakota, AP, June 9, 1991, p. A17).
In December 1992, Brian Cressler began coming out of a deep coma he had
been in for 18 months since an automobile accident that occurred a few weeks
after his high school graduation. During that time, he couldn’t move or talk and
his eyes were set in a blank stare. By June 1992, Brian delighted his mother by
speaking his first word in two years, “Mom”. Though he has memory problems and
seizures and remains severely handicapped, he is able to move around in a
wheelchair and do many things, including swimming laps in a pool.
On October 27, 1995, Ryan Nguyen enjoyed his first birthday in his home in
Vancouver, Washington (across the Columbia River from Portland, Oregon). His
complicated birth in Spokane, Washington, led doctors there to believe he had
no chance of survival. Ryan was born eight weeks prematurely and suffered
kidney damage, a bowel obstruction and possible brain damage. Doctors at Sacred
Heart Medical Center described his condition as “universally fatal”. His
parents went to court to force the hospital to continue life-support and found
a doctor in Portland willing to treat Ryan. After four months in the hospital,
Ryan was allowed to go home (The Seattle Times, Fri., Oct. 27, 1995, p.
B2).
The January 3, 1996, issue of the New England Journal of Medicine contained
the story of an 18-year-old woman who suffered severe head injuries in a car
accident in 1987. She remained in a coma, unresponsive, for 15 months,
diagnosed as in a permanent vegetative state. At that point she gradually began
to respond to questions by moving her leg or closing her eyes. Eventually she
could speak short phrases. Five years and two months after the injury, she went
home, though she remained wheelchair bound and dependent on others for her care
(New York Times, Jan. 4, 1996, p. A7).
In February 1996, a former Tennessee police officer, Gary French Dockery, who
had been speechless for seven and a half years after being shot in the head in
the line of duty, began talking with his relatives, recalling events from past
years and remembering the names of his friends and horses. Commenting about
Dockery’s recovery, Dr. Cornelius Mance, a neurologist at North Park Hospital
in Chattanooga, said, “The first rule is divine intervention. The second is that
your brain is a massive computer and it works to try to repair itself” (David
Sisler, “Coma”, Augusta Chronicle, March 2, 1996). In Dockery’s
case, his speech was God’s answer to his family’s prayers. His sons Shane and
Colt had prayed that before their father died they could hear him say he loved
them one more time. At one point after he began talking with his family, Gary
was asked by his eldest son Shane if he wanted to go home. When he said, “Nope”,
Shane asked him where he wanted to go then, and he replied, “Heaven”. Gary
Dockery died April 15, 1997, of a blood clot.
In 1996, a British study found that 17 of 40 PVS (Persistent Vegetative State)
patients referred to Royal Hospital for Neurodisability were misdiagnosed, an
error rate of 43% (British Medical Journal, July 6, 1996).
In March 1996, a former businessman who had been in a “persistent vegetative
state” for seven years, began communicating with hospital staff. He had
suffered brain damage after the oxygen supply to his brain was accidentally cut
off during routine surgery. Being confident that the man’s condition would
never improve, the British health authority had considered petitioning the High
Court to withhold food and fluids, but they dropped the plan when his wife
fought for his life (The Guardian, Mar. 16, 1996).
In June 1999, Maria Lopez awoke from an “irreversible” coma she had been in for
roughly six weeks after a blood vessel burst in her brain. Six days later, she
gave birth to healthy twin girls (“Woman awakens from coma, gives birth to
twins”, Associated Press, July 8, 1999). Neurosurgeon John Frazee told CNN that
he had believed the chance of Maria recovering “was almost zero”.
In October 1999, 16-year-old Jonathan Wamback of Newmarket, Ontario, awoke from
a coma he had been in since receiving a severe beating by a teenage gang some
three months earlier. Repeatedly kicked in the head with steel-toed boots,
Jonathan’s skull was shattered, and he almost died three times on the way to
surgery. Altogether he spent eleven months in the hospital. Though permanently
injured, Wamback made a remarkable recovery and was planning to go to college.
On Christmas Eve, 1999, 42-year-old Patricia “Happi” White Bull of Albuquerque,
New Mexico, mother of four, awoke from a 16-year coma and began talking to her
family (St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Jan. 5, 2000). Due to a blood clot
which caused her to suffer brain damage from lack of oxygen, she had slipped
into the coma in 1983 while delivering her fourth child, and for 16 years she
was kept in a nursing home, unresponsive, unable to speak, swallow, or move.
Since coming out of the comma she “has been speaking her children’s names,
catching up on family developments and spending a lot of time just watching her
children and smiling”. As of Christmas 2000, Patricia continued to make
progress.
In August 2002, Peter Sana of Hawaii regained consciousness from a coma he had
been in for almost seven and a half years after contracting meningitis,
inflammation of the membrane enclosing the brain and spinal cord (“Family’s
devotion helps Pearl City coma victim”, Honolulu Star-Bulletin,
Sept. 8, 2002). He spent most of those years in a nursing home, unresponsive to
all contact. The nursing home staff believes the daily visits by his father
(during which he massaged Peter’s arms and legs) and regular visits by other
family members played a large role in Peter’s recovery.
In April 2002 M. Eckard of Washington was taken to the hospital with pneumonia.
She was 82 years old and had emphysema. Her condition deteriorated rapidly and
she was in an unresponsive, semi-conscious state. The oldest daughter told the
nursing staff it would be her wish to die; that she didn’t want any “heroic
measures”. (We are unsure how food and water and oxygen can be described as
“heroic measures”.) So they put her in a room with no treatment, no oxygen,
food, water, or medicine, expecting her to die. After lying
there in a semi-conscious state for some days she rallied, to everybody’s
amazement. When she recovered, she was upset that they had withheld medical
care, because it was definitely not her will to die. A year after this
incident, at the age of 83, she wrote and published her autobiography. She
lived until age 91.
In June 2003, Terry Wallis of Mountain View, Arkansas, awoke after 19 years in
a coma and starting speaking, “to the surprise of doctors” (Fox News,
July 9, 2003). Terry was 39 years old when a 1984 automobile accident left him
a quadriplegic and in a near vegetative state. When he began speaking on June
12, 2003, his first word was “Mom” and the second was “Pepsi”, and soon he was
talking “almost nonstop”. He still remembered his grandmother’s phone number,
even though she had been dead for several years and other family members had
forgotten it. His 19-year-old daughter, Amber, was born shortly before the
accident, and this is the first time he had been able to speak to her.
In February 2005, Sara Scantlin of Kansas awoke from the “persistent vegetative
state” she had been in since a drunk driver hit her in 1984 when she was only
18 years old (“Woman Wakes from Coma”, KWCH TV, Wichita, Kansas, Feb. 9, 2005).
Sara’s parents were shocked when she began talking after more than 20 years of
silence. Here is the report: “Since 22 September 1984, Sara Scantlin had never
uttered a word, her brain so badly damaged in the accident that experts said
she would spend the rest of her life in her own silent world. A week ago, her
mother Betsy took a telephone call from a nurse at the care home where Sarah
lives, telling her to sit down because she had a surprise for her. Then a
different voice came on the line. ‘Hi Mom,’ it said. ‘I said, “Sarah, is that
you?”’ And she said, ‘Yeah,’ recalled Mrs. Scantlin, of Hutchinson, Kansas. ...
Sarah’s father Jim, 66, overhearing his wife’s end of the conversation, sat in
his chair puzzled. ‘Then I realised, “She’s not talking about Sarah, she’s
talking to Sarah”,’ he said, describing his daughter’s recovery as ‘a miracle
of the human spirit.’ Since then, Sarah’s family has put her once-void memory
to numerous tests. They have listened in astonishment as she reels off the
names of relatives, former pets, friends from school and dates such as her own
birthday--though when her brother asked her how old she is, she guessed her age
as 22. He had to inform her that she is now 38. ... Her doctor, Bradley Scheel,
says critical pathways in Sarah’s brain, believed to have been damaged beyond
repair, have regenerated and kicked back into life. ‘It’s just been really
amazing. We’ve all been very thrilled,’ he said” (Jacqui Goddard, “‘Hi Mom’
signals patient’s return from 20 years in world of silence”, The
Scotsman, Feb. 14, 2005). An interview with Scantlin by Tracy Smith was
broadcast on The Early Show in New York on August 4 and 5,
2005. A very important part of this case is the fact that THROUGHOUT HER
20-YEAR COMA, SARAH COULD SEE, HEAR, AND UNDERSTAND WHAT WAS GOING ON AROUND
HER (“Woman Details Her 20-Year Coma”, CBS News, Aug. 4, 2005).
In the first decade of the twenty-first century, new brain-imagining technology
began to prove that “brain dead” patients are not necessarily brain dead.
A study published in the journal Neurology in February 2005
concluded that thousands of brain-damaged people who are considered vegetative
might in fact hear and register what is going on around them but be unable to
respond (“Signs of Awareness Seen in Brain-Injured Patients”, New York
Times, Feb. 8, 2005). The study, conducted by a team of neuroscientists
from New York, New Jersey and Washington, D.C., used brain-imaging technology
to study the brain activity of two men with significant brain injuries and who
were determined to be only minimally conscious. Researchers found that the
brain activity of these men was similar to that of seven healthy people. Dr.
Joseph Fins, chief of the medical ethics division of New York Presbyterian
Hospital-Weill Cornell Medical Center, said, “THIS STUDY GAVE ME GOOSE BUMPS,
BECAUSE IT SHOWS THIS POSSIBILITY OF THIS PROFOUND ISOLATION, THAT THESE PEOPLE
ARE THERE, THAT THEY’VE BEEN THERE ALL ALONG, EVEN THOUGH WE’VE BEEN TREATING
THEM AS IF THEY’RE NOT”.
On April 2, 2005, Donald Herbert of Orchard Park, New York, suddenly began
speaking to his family members and friends more than nine years after the
former firefighter was seriously injured when a roof fell on him. He was
comatose for two and a half months after the accident and has been hospitalized
in a special care nursing home ever since, blind and incommunicative. The
hospital staff was amazed at the turn of events. Firefighter Anthony Liberatore
told WIVB-TV, “He stayed up 'til early morning talking with his boys and
catching up on what they’ve been doing over the last several years”. Herbert
was moved to a healthcare facility in Chicago for further treatment, and in
early June he was still communicative (“Brain Injured Firefighter Moved to
Chicago”, AP, June 3, 2005).
In May 2005, Tracy Gaskill of Winfield, Kansas, began to speak more than
two and a half years after an automobile accident (on Sept. 3, 2002) that left
her severely brain damaged and unable to talk or even swallow. Now she is
learning again how to drink because she can swallow. Her doctor, David
Schmeidler, said: “It’s amazing, isn’t it? I have never seen this happen in my
career. I’ve read about it happening, the severely brain damaged recovering
suddenly, but never seen it--until now. She is actually able to speak and to
speak coherently. In light of all this stuff on Terri Schiavo ... it makes you
pause and think. For three years or so, (Tracy) was fed through a tube, then
she swallowed a little bit and now she speaks” (“Schiavo-like woman speaks
after 2½ years”, WorldNetDaily, May 13, 2005). “The Gaskill family
and many others in the Cowley County community prayed for Tracy regularly since
the accident, and she had daily visits”.
In May 2007 Jan Grzebski of Poland awoke from a 19-year coma to be astonished
that the communist party is no longer in power and food no longer rationed. He
told Polish television TVN24, “Now I see people on the streets with mobile
phones and there are so many goods in the shops it makes my head spin” (“Pole
Wakes up from 19-year Coma”,BBC News, June 2, 2007). Grzebski went into
a coma in 1988 after being hit by a train, and doctors gave him only two or
three years to live after finding cancer in his brain; but his wife cared for
him year after year, turning him over frequently so he would not get bed sores.
He credits his wife with saving him, and she said, “I cried a lot, and I prayed
a lot”. He said he is amazed that people never stop complaining today even
though they have everything, because in the Poland he knew before his accident
“there was only tea and vinegar in the shops, meat was rationed, and huge
petrol queues were everywhere”. After regaining his speech, he told his
relatives that HE HAS MEMORIES OF FAMILY GATHERINGS EVEN THOUGH HE WAS
SUPPOSEDLY COMATOSE AT THE TIME.
According to a report published on June 20, 2007, on News-Medical.Net, research
teams from Belgium found that 40 percent of patients they studied were
misdiagnosed as in a “vegetative state”, when they should have been diagnosed
as in a minimally conscious state, and that 25 percent of patients diagnosed in
an “acute vegetative state” when they enter a hospital had a good chance to
regain a considerable percentage of their faculties and as many as half would
reacquire “some level of consciousness”. Further, a comparison with past
studies demonstrated that the incidence of misdiagnosis has not fallen in the
last 15 years (“Vegetative State Diagnoses Often Wrong, Study Shows”, Baptist
Press, June 26, 2007).
On June 27, 2007, one month after the car crash that resulted in a broken neck
and major head trauma, Jesse Ramirez came out of a “Persistent Vegetative State”
(PSV) and can “hug and kiss, nod his head, answer yes and no questions, give a
thumbs-up sign and sit in a chair” (“Jesse Ramirez, Considered a ‘Vegetable’
Like Terri Shiavo, Now on His Way to Recovery”, LifeSiteNews.com, June 28,
2007). Ramirez and his wife were quarreling at the time of the accident and
were having serious marital problems, and she wanted to have his feeding tube
removed on June 8, only 10 days later, but his family went to bat for him and
with the help of the Alliance Defense Fund successfully challenged her
decision. Bioethics expert Wesley J. Smith, a senior fellow at the Discovery
Institute, said in his blog: “As we have discussed here previously, PVS is
often misdiagnosed. More importantly, it can’t be done accurately after only a
few weeks post trauma. So, why the rush in this case to write the man off? This
much is sure: But for parents willing to fight for his life, Ramirez would be
dead today rather than entering the rehabilitation unit”.
In March 2008, it was reported that Haleigh Poutre, a 14-year-old girl
who was pronounced irreversibly brain damaged after a severe beating in 2005,
was well enough to testify against her attacker (“Once in Coma, Girl May
Testify against Alleged Attacker”, ABC News, Mar. 5, 2008). The
girl, then 11, was brought to the hospital in September 2005 by her stepfather
in a comatose condition and covered in bruises. After the Massachusetts
Department of Social Services was given custody they sought to remove her from
life support. At a court hearing, a doctor at the Baystate Medical Center said,
“Short of developing a technique for a complete brain transplant, there is no
hope that medical treatment will be discovered in the foreseeable future which
could reverse”. Just days before doctors removed her ventilator she began
breathing on her own and showing other signs of brain activity. She can now
communicate and remembers the attack.
In May 2008, Val Thomas awoke after being pronounced dead. After multiple heart
attacks she had no brain waves for 17 hours. A respiratory machine kept her
breathing. Her son, Jim, said, “Her skin had already started to harden and her
fingers curled”, and Dr. Kevin Eggleston added, “She had no neurological
function” (“Woman Wakes up after Family Says Goodbye, Tubes Pulled”, NewsNet5,
May 22, 2008, http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/24777532). Doctors removed all tubes,
but she was kept on the ventilator while the organ donor issue was discussed.
Ten minutes later she woke up and started talking. Mrs. Thomas said, “I know
God has something in store for me, another purpose”. A specialist at the
Cleveland Clinic in West Virginia said she has no blockage and will be fine.
In 2008, Steven Thorpe of England awoke from a two-week coma after being
pronounced brain dead by four specialists. The parents were urged to turn off
the life support and donate their 17-year-old son’s organs, but they were
convinced they had seen a “flicker” of life in their son and begged for another
opinion. A neurosurgeon found faint signs of brain activity, and two weeks
later the teenager awoke from the coma. He had to undergo extensive facial
reconstruction, but today he is training as an accounts clerk (“Brain Dead Man
Recovers”, LifeNews, April 26, 2012).
As of 2009, Rom Houben of Belgium would communicate via a computer, but for 23
years he was misdiagnosed as brain dead (a persistent vegetative state)
following a car crash. The paralyzed man told the media of THE HORROR OF BEING
CONSIDERED BRAIN DEAD WHEN HE WAS CONSCIOUS THE WHOLE TIME. He says, “I screamed,
but there was nothing to hear” (Daily Mail, Nov. 23, 2009). He says he
felt “alone, lonely, frustrated”, and, “I dreamed myself away”. After using a
range of coma tests following the 1983 crash, the doctors concluded that his
consciousness was “extinct”. It was not until three years ago that new hi-tech
scans showed that his brain was still functioning normally. Since then he has
learned to tap out messages on a computer and has even written an article
entitled called “Hidden Wealth ... the Force of Silence”. Steven Laurey, the
neurological doctor who re-evaluated Houben, claims that patients classed in a
vegetative state are often misdiagnosed. A recent study found that 40 percent
of patients so diagnosed are in fact minimally conscious (“Comatose for 23
Years, Belgian Feels Reborn”, AP, Nov. 25, 2009). Dr. Joseph Fins of the Weill
Cornell Medical College, who says that many people recover over time, warns,
“It’s very easy for the label that is affixed at one point to sort of become
eternalized, and so no one questions the diagnosis”.
In May 2011, doctors in Darwin, Australia, reported that Gloria Cruz woke from
a coma after she had been declared brain dead and “hopeless”. After suffering a
stroke on March 7, she was in a coma for two months. On the recommendation of a
doctor, she was removed from the ventilator, but three days later she came out
of the coma and began to make a recovery (“Husband Celebrates Miracle”,
FoxNews, May 11, 2011). She is now alert and moving around in a wheelchair.
In December 2011 Sam Schmid, a college student thought to be brain dead, began
recovering from injuries sustained in an automobile accident two months
earlier. He showed signs of alertness only hours before he was slated to be
removed from life support and his organs given to other patients (“Readied to
Donate Organs, 21-year-old Emerges from Coma”, Good Morning America,
Dec. 22, 2011). Doctors say he will likely have a complete recovery.
In November 2012, 39-year-old Scott Routley, who had been in a “vegetative state”
for 12 years after a car accident, responded to researchers’ questions via a
change in brain activity. He was able to communicate that he was aware of his
surroundings, that he knew that his sister had a daughter who was born after
his accident, and that he is not in pain. Bryan Young, the neurologist who
treated Routley at University Hospital in London, Ontario, observed: “SOME
PEOPLE CAN LOOK LIKE THEY’RE VEGETATIVE BUT STILL HAVE AWARENESS INSIDE THEIR
HEAD. I think it's a very important finding. It really made the point to me
that we need to go beyond the clinical evaluation to be conclusive about
whether a patient is really in a vegetative state or not” (“Man in Supposed
Vegetative State Communicates”, ABC News, Nov. 14, 2012). Young
said the “scan results overturned all the behavioural assessments that had been
made over the years”. Neuroscientist John Connolly of McMaster University said:
“The whole idea of this interaction with patient, not just passively observing
them but trying to engage them, is a very big deal. ... I think the era of
judging patients with communication problems, judging on purely behavior, I
think those days have to end”. Routley’s parents always believed that he was
conscious and could communicate by lifting a thumb or moving his eyes, though
medical staff disagreed.
In 2013, researchers at the Tel Aviv University monitoring brain activity found
that some patients thought to be in a “vegetative state” respond to questions
and photos of loved ones in a way that indicates consciousness. Dr. Haggai
Sharon of Tel Aviv’s Functional Brain Center said, “We showed that patients in
a vegetative state can react differently to different stimuli in the
environment depending on their emotional value. It’s not a generic thing; it’s
personal and autobiographical. We engaged the person, the individual, inside
the patient. This experiment, a first of its kind, demonstrates that some
vegetative patients may not only possess emotional awareness of the environment
but also experience emotional awareness driven by internal processes, such as
images” (“First-of-its-king Experiment”, The Blaze, Dec. 17, 2013).
Two patients in a vegetative state eventually recovered, according to the
journal, and in the study they had showed the strongest connectivity between
recognition and the emotional side of the brain.
Other illustrations could be given, but these are sufficient to prove our
point: Medical science is highly fallible, and it is essential to remember this
when considering the euthanasia issue.
This is not to say the medical world is never right. We praise the Lord for the
countless blessings that have come to unworthy mankind through modern medical
science, but science is not Almighty God.
MAN HAS AN ETERNAL SOUL
Consider, too, that man has an eternal soul. If there were no God, no
life after death, no eternity, euthanasia would make sense. But that is not the
case.
The Bible is plain in its teaching that man has a soul that lives beyond death.
Consider these Scriptures:
“For I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand”. 2
Timothy 4:6
“Therefore we are always confident, knowing that, whilst we are at home in the
body, we are absent from the Lord: (For we walk by faith, not by sight:) We are
confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be
present with the Lord” (2 Cor. 5:6-8).
“And it came to pass, that the beggar died, and was carried by the angels into
Abraham’s bosom: the rich man also died, and was buried; and in hell he lift up
his eyes, being in torments, and seeth Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his
bosom” (Lk. 16:22-23).
“Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was: and the spirit shall
return unto God who gave it” (Ecc. 12:7).
“The days of our years are threescore years and ten; and if by reason of
strength they be fourscore years, yet is their strength labour and sorrow; for
it is soon cut off, and we fly away” (Psalm 90:10).
All of these Scriptures teach that man’s soul lives beyond the grave. This
knowledge is fundamental and essential to the euthanasia debate.
According to the Bible, men are born into this world in a fallen, sinful
condition. The first man and woman, Adam and Eve, sinned against God, and their
children inherited their rebel nature. “Wherefore, as by one man sin entered
into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that
all have sinned” (Rom. 5:12). The Bible divides men into two classes: saved and
lost. “And we know that we are of God, and the whole world lieth in wickedness”
(1 Jn. 5:19).
This is not a popular truth, but it is what the Bible teaches. Those who have
trusted Jesus Christ as their Saviour are redeemed from eternal judgment, are
born again into God’s family, and will live forever with Him in Glory. Those
who do not trust Christ will die in their sins and will be judged for their
rebellion against God, their crimes against His Holy Law, and their rejection
of God’s Son.
All men are sinners, but there are saved sinners and there are lost sinners,
depending upon what they do with Jesus Christ and His gospel of grace.
The Bible teaches that only in this life do men have the opportunity to trust
the blood of Christ and be saved. There is no opportunity after death. Jesus
taught that a great gulf is fixed between hell and heaven and no one can pass
from one place to the other (Luke 16:26).
One’s eternal destiny is set at death.
What does this have to do with euthanasia? Very much. It would be
foolish to take one’s own life or that of a loved one as long as there is a
possibility that one’s eternal salvation is not settled. It is possible, as
long as euthanasia is rejected, that one’s eternal destiny might be changed. In
light of the seriousness of life and salvation, it is an awful responsibility
to decide that a loved one’s earthly life will be prematurely snuffed out and
his opportunity for salvation forever erased.
There is also the reality of the Judgment Seat of Christ for the believer. For
the born again Christian, this life is a tremendous opportunity to serve the
Lord and to gain eternal rewards for faithfulness to Christ. If we are
obedient, God has promised to reward us; if we are carnal and disobedient, we
will suffer loss of reward and position in His kingdom (1 Cor. 3:11-15; Rom.
14:10-12; 2 Cor. 5:9-11; Col. 3:23-25; Rev. 2:26-28; 3:21).
This means it is important to give every opportunity to the Christian to be
right with God before he leaves this life. God sometimes uses severe trials,
such as sickness and accidents, to chastise and correct His children (Heb.
12:5-9; 1 Cor. 5:3-5; 11:29-30; 1 Tim. 1:20). Thus, it is possible that the
Christian in such trouble is being so dealt with by God, and we should keep
this in mind when making euthanasia decisions. Is it still possible that the
loved one, though in an apparent coma, could be doing business with God about
things that need to be settled before leaving this life? Such questions need to
be faced.
One of my great grandfathers killed seven men, and on his deathbed his
relatives overheard him talking to God about these murders and repenting.
We are not saying that there is never a time to stop extreme life-saving
measures and to allow a soul to depart. We are saying that such a thing is a
terribly serious decision and should always be made in light of the truths of
the Word of God, and not only in light of the physical suffering of the
individual, or of financial considerations, or of convenience, or of some other
temporal issue.
IT MIGHT BE POSSIBLE FOR A PERSON IN A COMA TO BE SAVED
Consider that it might be possible for a lost person in a coma to be
saved or for a Christian in a coma to do business with God. We cannot be
dogmatic here, and we don’t intend to be. At the same time, we do want to bring
attention to some instances that point to the possibility of such a thing.
Those who deal closely with people in comas often come to the conclusion that
their patients respond to certain stimuli and have some kind of awareness or
consciousness, though medically they might even be “brain dead”.
This has been confirmed by people who have awakened from comas and a
“persistent vegetative state”. We have already considered some examples of
this.
After Sara Scantlin awoke from a 20-year “persistent vegetative state” in 2005,
she testified that “THROUGHOUT HER 20-YEAR COMA, SHE COULD SEE, HEAR, AND
UNDERSTAND WHAT WAS GOING ON AROUND HER” (“Woman Details Her 20-Year Coma”, CBS
News, Aug. 4, 2005).
Kate Adamson, who came out of a “persistent vegetative state”, said, “I WAS
CONSCIOUS AND COULD HEAR, SEE, AND FEEL EVERYTHING. I could feel pain, but was
unable to move any part of my body. [After the feeding tube was removed] I went
without food for eight days. I thought I was going insane. Inside my body I was
trying to scream out that I needed to eat but I could not communicate. THE
HUNGER PAINS OVERRODE EVERY THOUGHT I HAD. THE PAIN WAS SHEER TORTURE” (cited
from John Day, Darwin Day in America, p. 353).
A 2005 study by a team of neuroscientists in the Northeast U.S., demonstrated
that in some cases at least “THAT THESE PEOPLE ARE THERE, THAT THEY’VE BEEN
THERE ALL ALONG, EVEN THOUGH WE’VE BEEN TREATING THEM AS IF THEY’RE NOT”
(“Signs of Awareness Seen in Brain-Injured Patients”, New York Times,
Feb. 8, 2005).
Jan Grzebski of Poland, who awoke from a 19-year coma in 2007, said HE HAS
MEMORIES OF FAMILY GATHERINGS EVEN THOUGH HE WAS SUPPOSEDLY COMATOSE AT THE
TIME (“Pole Wakes up from 19-year Coma”, BBC News, June 2, 2007).
Rom Houben of Belgium, who was misdiagnosed as PVS (persistent vegetative state)
for 23 years, told of “THE HORROR OF BEING CONSIDERED BRAIN DEAD WHEN HE WAS
CONSCIOUS THE WHOLE TIME” (Daily Mail, Nov. 23, 2009).
Dr. Mihai Dimancescu, chairman of the board of the Coma Recovery Association,
describes the case of a 23-year-old woman named Judy who was in a coma for
three months. Every day a professor making daily rounds with his medical
students would stop by her bed and say, “Judy is in a coma; she’ll never wake
up”. Yet she did wake up and SHE TOLD DR. DIMANCESCU THAT SHE “ALWAYS REMEMBERED
THAT DARN PROFESSOR REFUSING TO STOP BY HER BED, SAYING THAT SHE WOULD NOT WAKE
UP!” (Liz Townsend, “Recovery from Coma Is a Reality for Many Patients”,
http://www.nrlc.org/news/2001/NRL10/coma.html).
An interesting thing happened to my wife while she was working as a nurse in an
intensive care unit (ICU) in Chattanooga, Tennessee in the mid-1970s. A teenage
patient was brought in during the night in a deep coma with severe injuries. He
was unconscious, but my wife spoke to him and witnessed to him and prayed for
him. Several days later he was moved from intensive care to another part of the
hospital, and she did not see him again until some weeks later. When she next
saw him, he came up to ICU to attend a going away party the nurses were giving my
wife, who was leaving soon to do missionary work in South Asia. The young man
recognized her by her voice and testified that he remembered her voice from the
night that she had stood by his bedside and witnessed to him when he was in a
catatonic state!
We are saying there are so many unknowns in the realm of comas, that we should
be very careful about hasty judgments.
There is a time to stop extreme life-sustaining efforts. It is appointed unto
men once to die, and the appointed time does come.
Our point here is simply that great caution must be exercised in these matters,
and hasty decisions must be avoided regarding the nature of those who are
“brain dead” or in a “persistent vegetative state”.
Medical science does not hold all the answers.
OUR RESPONSIBILITY TO LOVED ONES IS TO CARE FOR THEM, NOT KILL THEM
Consider, finally, that the Bible gives us the responsibility to provide for
loved ones, but never are we told that we have the right to kill them!
Food, clothing, and shelter are not “medical care!” These are basics of life.
The decision to stop providing extreme medical care when it is clear that it is
time for a loved one to depart is one thing. The decision to stop providing
food and water, when the individual can take it and digest it, is quite another
matter. We do not believe it is right to stop providing the simple basics of
life that God has commanded us to provide. An infant is not able to eat on its
own, yet we do not stop feeding it on this account!
“But if any provide not for his own, and specially for those of his own house,
he hath denied the faith, and is worse than an infidel” (1 Tim. 5:8).
There is a frightful tendency in modern society to ignore basic
responsibilities toward loved ones.
Nursing and convalescent homes are filled with lonely people who have no loved
one to care for them. There are countless elderly parents in such homes whose
children never visit even though they live within driving distance. There are
invalid children whose parents have basically forgotten about them.
We know there is a time when it is best to place a severely invalid loved one
in a convalescent home, but we also know that there is often a tendency today
for people to neglect their responsibilities toward loved ones.
Consider the testimony of Dr. Michael Miller, professor of medicine at New York
Medical College and the medical director at a White Plains nursing home:
“Ninety-five percent of the patients come in [to his nursing home] with
families already distanced. ... They have had diminished contact, constant
struggles, are constantly attacking the nursing home staff, and MAKE DEMANDS
FOR PREMATURE DEATH. ... It’s not the dementia or the sickness that causes
family problems. Family problems began long, long ago and reemerge when the person
gets old and sick. And the major way that family ‘pathology’ can get expressed,
he said, is to tell the doctors, ‘don’t feed her,’ or ‘don’t treat the
pneumonia,’ or, if the parent needs to walk to remain mobile, ‘that will only
disturb her. Leave her alone.’ That’s all a way for the family to say, ‘We’ve
had enough.’ ... But if such efforts to cut life short were directed, for
example, toward Tenderloin derelicts, you’d be guilty of homicide. And it’s no
different with nursing home patients” (San Francisco Examiner, November
20, 1983).
Sometimes it is impossible for the infirm and the elderly to be cared for in
the family home, but it is also true that many of those in nursing homes are
there because of the hard-hearted condition of their families. Dr. Miller’s
testimony exposes this, and under such conditions, it is even more important
not to allow an “easy way out” for such people through misguided euthanasia
laws.
I repeat, the responsibility given to us by God is to provide for loved ones,
but never are we told we have the right to kill them!
A few years ago my wife and I witnessed the case of a friend whose death was
hastened by the family, the members of which all claimed to be born again
Christians. The old man was being cared for by one of his grown children. He
was mentally alert to the end and he could eat and drink with help, but the
family eventually refused to give him any more food or water,
claiming he could not swallow, which was not true. My wife is a nurse and she
knew that what the family was saying was not true and that it was not the old
man’s desire to die that way.
This type of thing happens frequently even in places where euthanasia is
illegal, but I am convinced that it is wrong.
It is a proud, foolish, and rebellious society that thinks it has the
prerogative of God to end life whenever it wishes.
Death is not dignified, and it is not a right; it is a punishment by God upon
sinful man. We praise Him, though, that He has not left us to die without hope
but He has made a way of salvation through the substitutionary death of His Son
Jesus Christ.
“For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through
Jesus Christ our Lord” (Romans 6:23).
“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever
believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not
his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him
might be saved” (John 3:16-17).
—DC
