Why should Catholics care about combatting assisted suicide?
For starters, according to Jamie Towey, “Everyone knows somebody who’s going to die.”
Towey is vice president for advocacy for nonprofit Aging with Dignity. He described assisted suicide as “the wrong answer to real problems.”
“People are right now left alone in nursing homes. They’re not being given company. Their pain is not getting managed. They’re not getting good access to palliative care. So, this issue is not going away,” he said.
Last month, Aging with Dignity launched a new initiative, Assisted Suicide Watch. The initiative’s goal is to “shine a light on the effects that (assisted suicide) has on the vulnerable, the lonely, the elderly people with disabilities.”
Towey, a parishioner of St. James Church in Falls Church, said that ASW will conduct “large-scale research into a lot of the idiosyncrasies of the data that’s coming out of individual states” that conduct physician-assisted suicide. Through ASW, the organization also plans to create investigative videos that will “shine a light on the influences and the organizations” that push for increased access to physician-assisted suicide and euthanasia.
Physician-assisted suicide is, according to Aging with Dignity’s website, “when a patient ends his or her life by self-administering a poisonous mixture of drugs provided by a physician. Euthanasia is when a physician directly administers poisonous drugs to a patient or withholds life-saving treatment with the intention of bringing about the death of that patient.”
Today, physician-assisted death is legal in 10 U.S. states and Washington, D.C.
The political push for increased access to assisted suicide exploits people’s fear of pain and suffering, Towey said. “People just want this easy way out at the end, and who doesn’t want to escape from death?”
Assisted suicide was a fringe issue in the 1990s, but since then, it has only become more widespread, Towey said. “It’s pushed by really powerful, deep-pocketed organizations.”
Organizations that promote assisted suicide “use caring and compassionate and warm language to describe what they’re doing.” But often, the promotion of assisted suicide comes down to one thing: money.
“It is a lot cheaper to kill you than to care for you,” Towey said. “Most of the health care costs that we incur are over the final years of our lives, and you’re already seeing denial of care happening across the country. You know, life-saving treatments being denied, for example, to people with disabilities and being offered physician-assisted suicide instead.”
Last year, the Virginia legislature introduced a bill that would legalize assisted suicide in Virginia. While the bill was defeated in the legislature, it is likely to return, Towey said. “It’s legal in Washington, and once something’s legal, it doesn’t stop there. They usually start removing guardrails,” he added.
Towey said too often, the ill, aging and elderly don’t receive adequate care or help preparing for advanced care. So, Aging with Dignity created its “Five Wishes” advance care planning resource, and has distributed more than 43 million copies. The resource is legally valid in all 50 states — with a few extra steps for residents of seven states — and is available in 32 languages, including Braille. Costs for the resource are minimal — $5 for print and $15 for digital. Aging with Dignity also has partnered with and trained more than 15,000 health care professionals.
Aging with Dignity was created by Jamie Towey’s father, Jim Towey, in 1996. Jim served as Mother Teresa’s lawyer for the last 12 years of her life, during which he worked at her home for the dying in Kolkata, India.
“He saw a lot of what death and dying looks like, that it’s a spiritual time. It’s not just a medical moment,” said Towey. He said that at Mother Teresa’s urging, Jim created Aging with Dignity.
Towey said that the fight against assisted suicide is a fight for human dignity. “Ever since day one, we’ve just been focused on, ‘How can we help people preserve dignity at the end of life?’ ”
Find out more
For Assisted Suicide Watch, go to assistedsuicidewatch.org.
For the advance care resource, go to fivewishes.org.
This article has been updated.
