Thanks to my friend Ralph for sending this article to me.  A New York Times article on the practice of palliative care - the heavy sedation of a terminal patient. 

I appreciate the article for highlighting some of the issues surrounding this probably pervasive practice (I've had at least one parishioner who received this form of treatment, but I didn't realize the full depth of what the practice was about at the time).  While the article feigns neutrality, it effectively sympathizes with the practice of palliative care as a reasonable practice to avoid patient suffering.

As a theologian, I struggle with this issue.  I've witnessed firsthand the struggles and physical deterioration which accompany terminal conditions.  I've watched people drained away of their strength and energy day by day towards an apparently inevitable conclusion.  I've talked with and comforted both the individuals themselves, as well as their friends and family.  Whatever illusions I once held about this being a simple issue have been shattered.  It isn't simple.  Not for those living through it. 

I strive to hold the theological line that dignifies the human life, and properly orders mankind so that we are not taking God's decisions upon ourselves.  But dignity is not defined in as limited a way as we often hear it in these situations.  Dignity is not a matter of what I or another person can or cannot do for ourselves.  Dignity is not the same as pride.  Dignity is something that is conferred from Creator to creature, and it is in fact the act of such conferring at creation that makes possible any sense of dignity, any sense of the value of a human life.  I have no right to sacrifice that dignity for the preservation of pride.  And it's my duty to try and help people make sense of what it means to be obedient and faithful even in the midst of suffering, in the midst of an inevitable that, when hope is lost, we wish to rush towards with all our strength.

I struggle to be faithful and compassionate, obedient and understanding.  This is the tension I want to convey to my parishioners as well.  I'm not entirely sure yet what that means on this issue.  I'd appreciate your thoughts after reading the article.