Modified Euthanasia

Thou shalt not kill; but need'st not strive Officiously to keep alive.

This couplet by 19th century Poet Arthur Hugh Clough was quoted last week by one of the Church of England's top theologians, Dr. Robert Mortimer, Bishop of Exeter, to summarize his view of how doctors should take care of their very old, very sick patients.

Preaching to a congregation of M.D.s, Bishop Mortimer said that "it is generally the Christian view that while there is a moral obligation to maintain the life of old persons by all ordinary means, there is no obligation to use extraordinary means"--that is, medical procedures that "involve very great expenditure, inconvenience or hardship, and which at the same time offer no reasonable expectation of success or of benefit."

Food, drink and ordinary medicines, explained the bishop, must not be denied such patients, but "to subject the very old to the acute discomfort of a serious operation or of feeding by intravenous drip would seem to be morally wrong. Such means should be used only where there is reasonable hope of recovery or where some benefit of happiness is conferred on the patient." Out and out euthanasia, said Bishop Mortimer, is no longer "a live issue" in Britain, but doctors are certainly justified in relieving their old patients' suffering, even if this should hasten death.*

The bishop's views led the London Times to ponder whether "an old person's life is less valuable than anyone else's." Its own answer: while it is not less valuable, "other considerations are more important." In a letter to the Times, former Home Secretary Chuter Ede reminded the bishop that his Clough quotation had been taken out of context--that the poet had really meant just the opposite. The lines that follow it in the poem, ironically titled The Latest Decalogue:

Do not adultery commit; Advantage rarely comes of it: Thou shalt not steal; an empty feat, When it's so lucrative to cheat: Bear not false witness; let the lie Have time on its own wings to fly: Thou shalt not covet; but tradition Approves all forms of competition. The sum of all is, thou shalt love If anybody, God above: At any rate, shalt never labour More than thyself to love thy neighbour.

* Pope Pius XII on the subject: "Morals evidently condemn mercy killing, that is, the intention to cause death. But if a dying person consents, it is permissible to use with moderation narcotics that will allay his suffering but will also cause quicker death . . . In this case, death is not the direct intention."

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