Life and death
Rabbis, physicians oppose legalizing doctor-aided suicide
LOU HIRSH
Managing Editor
As it has often been called upon to do, the U.S. Supreme Court is again being asked to judge a matter of life and death.
Justices are currently reviewing the legality of physician-assisted suicide, a term describing situations in which a doctor makes available to a patient the means for that patient to intentionally cause his or her own death. The high court's decision, expected in late June, is likely to have a major impact on health care and on how Americans deal with death and dying.
Whatever the Supreme Court decides, many Arizona doctors as well as Phoenix-area rabbis have made clear their opposition to the legalizing of physician-assisted suicide. What's more, there is apparent agreement among all branches of Judaism that physician-assisted suicide goes against religious teachings and principles.
"If the Supreme Court permits this, we're going to have a big problem on our hands," said Rabbi William Berk of Temple Chai, a Reform congregation in Phoenix. Berk, the current president of the Board of Rabbis of Greater Phoenix, said Jewish tradition advocates the relieving of pain, but does not permit "the taking of a soul."
Rabbi David Rebibo, of Orthodox Beth Joseph Congregation in Phoenix, said Jewish tradition can not be altered based on proponents' argument that patients have the ultimate right to decide the means and manner of their death.
"Orthodox Judaism will not give a blank check - not to a doctor and not even to the individual - to take a life," he said.
Rebibo said rather than living by one governmental or judicial decision applying in all cases, individual Jewish families should continue to seek input from their rabbis for objective guidance in dealing with a complex moral issue.
A 'slippery slope'
Rabbi Bonnie Koppel, of Conservative Temple Beth Sholom in Mesa, said Conservative rabbis also are opposed to legalizing doctor-assisted suicide. But with the increasing visibility of the issue, she said, the religious community, as well as the medical community, is dealing with a "slippery slope." She said the crux of the debate, especially for terminally ill patients, is "When does the right to die become an obligation to die?"
A major problem, according to opponents of legalization, is that the question of ending a life could potentially be influenced not only by individuals and their families, but by others with a more financial and less personal stake, such as hospitals, health maintenance organizations and insurance companies.
Dr. Fred Cucher, a local cardiologist, said that with the gradual move toward managed care, continuous and established relationships between doctors and patients are harder to come by. As a result, if assisted suicide is permitted, the decision could be made by doctors who won't have an informed view of the patient's history, personality or mental state, he said. Physicians need to keep their focus on preserving and improving life, he said.
"You can't just decide to take a person's life because they might have a debilitating disease," said Cucher. "That's not good medicine, and it's not good Judaism."
Arizona doctors speak out
The concerns of Cucher and other physicians were reflected in statements made by Dr. H. Belton Meyer, chairman of the Arizona Medical Association bioethics committee, at a recent forum in Phoenix. Meyer said the association opposes laws that would allow physicians to actively terminate life.
Meyer said elderly, poor and socially disadvantaged patients could be victims of decisions made by those who don't know them well, or those who could be tempted to use financial considerations as a reason to hasten a patient's death.
Also speaking at the Feb. 12 forum at Phoenix College, sponsored by the University of Arizona Health Sciences Center, were members of the media and clergy, as well as experts on hospice care, bioethics and law.
Speaking adamantly in favor of assisted suicide was John Westover, president of the National Hemlock Society, who said renowned "suicide doctor" Jack Kevorkian "has guts" for speaking and acting publicly in support of a practice already being used by others, although quietly in most cases.
"Physician-assisted suicide is taking place regularly in America today," Westover contended, adding that patients have the right to choose a dignified way of death when alternatives such as hospice programs do not provide sufficient comfort.
Among those speaking at the forum against doctor-assisted suicide was Rabbi Robert Kravitz of the American Jewish Committee. Stressing that he was speaking only for himself, Kravitz said lawyers and doctors should not be involved in what is strictly a personal matter.
"At what point will we realize that death is a part of the life process - not to be feared and not to be manipulated?" he posed.
Forum panelist Sharon Lewis, corporate counsel for Mercy Healthcare Arizona, said the Supreme Court's decision either way won't put a halt to the legal and ethical dilemmas involved.
"The courts have inherited this controversy. My feeling is that the courts is not where this belongs," Lewis said.
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