Boston, Mass., Sep 20, 2011 / 04:02 am
A proposed Massachusetts ballot initiative to allow terminally ill patients to take a lethal dose of prescription drugs corrupts the medical profession and undercuts efforts to prevent suicide, Cardinal Sean O'Malley of Boston said.
Cardinal O'Malley hoped that Massachusetts citizens will not be "seduced" by language about "dignity and compassion," charging that these words "disguise the sheer brutality of helping people kill themselves," the Boston Globe reports.
He said people of all faiths must reassure the sick and dying of the value of human life and must work to improve end-of-life care.
At the end of their lives, people fear "losing control" and "being abandoned," the cardinal told a Mass for Massachusetts lawyers and jurists at the Cathedral of the Holy Cross on Sept. 17. He said that society will be judged on how it responds to those "who believe their lives have diminished in value."