Euthanasia and Assisted Suicide

Meet Dr Philip Nitschke, also known as “Doctor Death,” founder of Exit International, a non-profit organization advocating for euthanasia and assisted suicide. In 1996, Dr Nitschke was the first person to legally administer a lethal voluntary injection.

By Deacon Frederick Bartels
25 September 2024

The Exit International website states:

“At Exit, we believe that it is the fundamental human right of every adult of sound mind, to be able to plan for the end of their life in a way that is reliable, peaceful & at a time of their choosing” – Dr Philip Nitschke

Exit International has developed what people call a “suicide pod,” known as “The Sarco,” which is a machine people get into to commit suicide by asphyxiation. It was used in Switzerland for the first time earlier this month to kill an American woman from the Midwest.

Why is euthanasia and assisted suicide morally wrong?

The Catechism of the Catholic Church says this regarding the prohibition against suicide: “Everyone is responsible for his life before God who has given it to him. It is God who remains the sovereign Master of life. We are obliged to accept life gratefully and preserve it for his honor and the salvation of our souls. We are stewards, not owners, of the life God has entrusted to us. It is not ours to dispose of” (2280).

Much can be said about why euthanasia and assisted suicide are not only morally wrong but spiritually dangerous. One reason is that people who choose to kill themselves using these methods do not know where they are sending their own souls. Another is that doctors who assist in suicides (or directly cause them or euthanize people) do not know where they are sending the souls of their deceased patients.

Since suicide is a grave sin, those who freely and deliberately choose it place their souls in peril (this does not mean that everyone who commits suicide enters hell, but that it is a real possibility).

Further, doctors who directly euthanize patients or cooperate in voluntary euthanasia, not only place their own souls in peril due to the fact that they are murdering people or cooperating in voluntary suicide, but they may indeed be sending the souls of their patients to eternal damnation. For example, it could be that these patients, if allowed to die according to God’s will and timing, may have repented of mortal sin (if they are guilty of it) and thus would be saved and eventually attain the kingdom of heaven.

However, when doctors euthanize their patients or people otherwise take their life into their own hands and kill themselves, they are claiming to have power over life, death, and their eternal destiny outside of and apart from God’s will.

They claim to be masters of life and death. That’s a very dangerous thing to do.

No sane person would think it best to suddenly run off the edge of a cliff and “hope for the best.” It is far wiser to care for the life God has given us, act as wise stewards over this gift, and place the timing and circumstances of our death in God’s hands, where it should always remain.