Thursday, March 28, 2024 -
Print Edition

Death without dignity

106 on the ballot next month would have us believe that there is such a thing as death with dignity. It sounds logical. If we take away everything undignified about dying, we are left with death with dignity. If we take away the tubes and the procedures, or the pain and the hospitalizations — all inhabitants of the dying person’s world — then human dignity is restored, right? If only people who suffer could be granted the legal choice to end their own lives, “death with dignity” would be upon us. This point of view flows from the contemporary conceit that the built-in limitations of the human condition are conquerable. Philosophically, modern culture has deified human control, autonomy and choice, so why shouldn’t death itself […]
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IJN Executive Editor | [email protected]