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The Case for Active Voluntary Euthanasia

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The Case for Active Voluntary Euthanasia Winter 1 The Case for Active Voluntary Euthanasia Gerald A. Larne Joseph Fletcher Derek Humphry Helga Kuhse Robert L. Risley Pieter Admiraal The Church Under Siege: Reflections on the Vatican/ Humanist Dialogue Paul Kurtz Also: George Bush and the Judiciary • Henry Morgent on Abortion Rights • Mathilde Krim on AIDS and Our Future IPTOO L ) WINTER 1988/89, VOL. 9, NO. 1 ISSN 0272-0701 Contents 62 LETTERS TO THE EDITOR 36 ON THE BARRICADES 66 IN THE NAME OF GOD 3 THE CASE FOR ACTIVE VOLUNTARY EUTHANASIA 4 Euthanasia: The Time Is Now Gerald A. Larue 7 Active Voluntary Euthanasia Derek Humphry 10 Excerpts from the Humane and Dignified Death Act... 11 In Defense of the Humane and Dignified Death Act Robert L. Risley 16 The Ethics of Active Voluntary Euthanasia Joseph Fletcher 17 Voluntary Euthanasia and the Doctor Helga Kuhse 20 Justifiable Active Euthanasia in the Netherlands Pieter Admiraal ARTICLES 22 AIDS and the Twenty-First Century Mathilde Krim 25 The Struggle for Abortion Rights in Canada Henry Morgentaler 44 The Church Under Siege: Reflections on the Vatican/ Humanist Dialogue Paul Kurtz 51 Unshrouding the Shroud Joe Nickell 52 Nietzsche's Der Antichrist: Looking Back from the Year 100 Robert Sheaffer 31 EDITORIALS President Bush and the Judiciary, Paul Kurtz I Religious Freedom and the 1988 Election, Robert Alley / I Survived the Humanist Congress, Tim Madigan 39 A FREE INQUIRY INTERVIEW The Frailty of Reason, Steve Allen, Jayne Meadows 57 BOOKS Mormonism Re-veiled, Vern Bullough I Sanctity of Life Versus Quality of Life, Gerald A. Larue / God and Stephen Hawking, Victor J. Stenger / Books in Brief Editor: Paul Kurtz Senior Editors: Vern Bullough, Gerald Larue Associate Editors: Doris Doyle, Steven L. Mitchell, Lee Nisbet, Gordon Stein, Andrea Szalanski Managing Editor: Tim Madigan Executive Editor: Mary Beth Gehrman Special Projects Editor: Valerie Marvin Contributing Editors: Robert S. Alley, professor of humanities, University of Richmond; Paul Beattie, Unitarian Church, Pittsburgh; Jo-Ann Boydston, director, Dewey Center; Paul Edwards, professor of philosophy, Brooklyn College; Albert Ellis, director, Institute for Rational-Emotive Therapy; Roy P. Fairfield, social scientist, Union Graduate School; Joseph Fletcher, theologian, University of Virginia Medical School; Antony Flew, philosopher, Reading University, England; R. Joseph Hoffmann, chairman, Department of Philosophy and Religion, Hartwick College, Oneonta, N.Y.; Sidney Hook, Professor Emeritus of Philosophy, NYU; Marvin Kohl, philosopher, State University of New York College at Fredonia; Jean Kotkin, executive director, American Ethical Union; Ronald A. Lindsay, attorney, Washington, D.C.; Delos B. McKown, professor of philosophy, Auburn University; Howard Radest, director, Ethical Culture Schools; Robert Rimmer, author; Svetozar Stojanovic, professor of philosophy, University of Belgrade; Thomas Szasz, psychiatrist, Upstate Medical Center, Syracuse; V. M. Tarkunde, Supreme Court Judge, India; Richard Taylor, professor of philosophy, Union College; Sherwin Wine, North American Committee for Humanism Editorial Associates: Jim Christopher, Fred Condo Jr., Thomas Flynn, Thomas Franczyk, Robert Basil, James Martin-Diaz Executive Director of CODESH, Inc.: Jean Millholland Systems Manager: Richard Seymour Typesetting: Paul E. Loynes Audio Technician: Vance Vigrass Staff: Steven Karr, Lisa Kazmierczak, Marieen Kulman, Anthony Nigro, Alfrede Pidgeon FREE INQUIRY (ISSN 0272-0701) is published quarterly by the Council for Democratic and Secular Humanism (CODESH, Inc.), a nonprofit corporation, 3159 Bailey Avenue, Buffalo, NY 14215. Phone (716) 834-2921. Copyright ©1988 by CODESH, Inc. Second-class postage paid at Buffalo, New York, and at additional mailing offices. National distribution by International Periodicals Distributors, San Diego, California. Subscription rates: $22.50 for one year, $39.00 for two years, $54.00 for three years, $4.00 for current issue; $5.00 for back issues. Address subscription orders, changes of address, and advertising to: FREE INQUIRY, Box 5, Buffalo, NY 14215-0005. Manuscripts, letters, and editorial inquiries should be addressed to: The Editor, FREE INQUIRY, Box 5, Buffalo, NY 14215-0005. All manuscripts should be accompanied by two additional copies and a stamped, self-addressed envelope. Opinions expressed do not necessarily reflect the views of the editors or publisher. Postmaster: Send address changes to FREE INQUIRY, Box 5, Buffalo, NY 14215-0005. The following statement was drafted by Gerald A. Larue, special editor of the euthanasia section of this issue, in cooperation with others. The Case for Active Voluntary Euthanasia e, the undersigned, declare our support for the decrim- We support only voluntary euthanasia. We believe that Winalization of medically induced active euthanasia when once an adult has signed a living will expressing his or her requested by the terminally ill. personal wishes concerning treatment during a terminal illness We acknowledge that techniques developed by modern and/ or has signed a durable power of attorney for health care medicine have been beneficial in improving the quality of life statement enabling another to act on his or her behalf, the and increasing longevity, but they have sometimes been individual's wishes should be respected. Because most persons accompanied by harmful and dehumanizing effects. We are lack professional knowledge concerning methods of inducing aware that many terminally ill persons have been kept alive death, we believe that only a cooperating medical doctor against their will by advanced medical technologies, and that should be the one to administer the life-taking potion or terminally ill patients have been denied assistance in dying. In injection to the patient who has requested it and that the attempting to terminate their suffering by ending their lives doctor should be able to fulfill the patient's request without themselves or with the help of loved ones not trained in fear or threat of prosecution. medicine, some patients have botched their suicides and We respect the doctor's and the hospital's right to refuse to brought further suffering on themselves and those around participate in administering such terminal medications. We them. We believe that the time is now for society to rise would urge the medical profession to make clear the patient's above the archaic prohibitions of the past and to recognize right to change doctors and hospitals should his or her wishes that terminally ill individuals have the right to choose the for aid in dying be refused. We would urge that every effort time, place, and manner of their own death. be made to honor the terminally ill person's wishes in regard We respect the opinions of those who declare that only the to the time and place of death, and that if the patient desires deity should determine the moment of death, or who find family members to be present to give comfort, these requests some spiritual merit in suffering, but we reject their arguments. will be respected. We align ourselves with those who are committed to the We recognize that there may be some who would exploit defense of human rights, human dignity, and human self- the right to active voluntary euthanasia and take advantage determination: this includes the right to die with dignity. An of the ill and suffering. But we believe that protective laws underlying motive is compassion for those who wish to end can, and indeed must, be enacted to discourage and punish their suffering by hastening their moment of death. such action. There are those who would make a distinction between We respect the right of terminally ill individuals who do "active" and "passive" euthanasia; they would support the not wish to utilize euthanasia or hasten the moment of death. abandonment of "heroic" efforts to sustain life while opposing But we affirm that the wishes of those who believe in the any positive act to hasten death by increasing dosage of drugs right to die with dignity should be respected and that to do so or administering a lethal injection. We point out, however, involves the highest expression of moral compassion and that both passive and active euthanasia involve the intention beneficence. of ending a person's life. Pieter Admiraal, M.D., Anesthesiologist, Reimer de Graaf Marvin Kohl, Professor of Philosophy, State University of New Gasthuis York College at Fredonia Bonnie Bullough, Dean of Nursing, State University of New Helga Kuhse, Deputy Director, Monash University Centre for York College at Buffalo Human Bioethics Vern Bullough, Dean of Natural and Social Sciences, State Paul Kurtz, Professor of Philosophy, State University of New York University of New York College at Buffalo at Buffalo Francis Crick, Nobel Laureate in Physiology, Salk Institute Gerald A. Larue, Professor Emeritus of Archaeology and Biblical Albert Ellis, President, Institute for Rational-Emotive Therapy Studies, University of Southern California at Los Angeles Roy Fairfield, Social Scientist, Union Graduate School Henry Morgentaler, M.D., President, Humanist Association of Joseph Fletcher, Professor Emeritus of Medical Ethics, University Canada of Virginia Medical School Robert L. Risley, Attorney, President, Americans Against Human Peter Hare, Chairman, Philosophy Department, State University Suffering of New York at Buffalo B. F. Skinner, Professor of Psychology Emeritus, Harvard Sidney Hook, Professor Emeritus of Philosophy, New York University University Rob Tielman, Co-president,
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