More states are passing laws legalizing physician-assisted suicide. In a follow-up to the MCC’s Messenger on Death with Dignity?, Jamie Morris, MCC Executive Director and General Counsel, spoke with Fr. Peter Fonseca regarding the Catholic Church’s teaching on the dignity of human life and rejecting physician-assisted suicide.
Fr. Peter Fonseca serves as the Director of Continuing Formation for Priests in the Archdiocese of St. Louis while pursuing a PhD in health care ethics at St. Louis University. His research interests converge at the intersection of health care ethics and the ministry of parish priests.
Mr. Morris and Fr. Fonseca discuss the current state of physician-assisted suicide in the U.S. and around the world and what the future of healthcare looks like for the patient and the doctor. You can listen to the podcast here.
While physician-assisted suicide is becoming entrenched in countries such as Canada and the Netherlands, the Scottish Parliament recently voted against legalizing it. Bishop John Keenan of Glasgow wrote, “As a society, our responsibility is not to address suffering by eliminating the sufferer, but to surround each person with care, respect, and dignity until their natural end.” You can read more about Scotland rejecting physician-assisted suicide here.