Abstract
This chapter provides religious and spiritual reflection on medical assistance in dying (MAID) from five perspectives: Indigenous, Muslim, Jewish, Roman Catholic, and Protestant. Each contributor was asked the following basic questions to direct their reflection. What would be the guidelines that you would offer people of your faith tradition? What would people from your faith tradition be concerned about? How would they make a decision regarding MAID? What guidance, as a leader in your faith, would you offer? Each contributor brought their own religious tradition to bear on addressing these questions in various manners. While each offers unique points, there are common threads or themes that emerge, for example, our lives are a gift and not something we necessarily “own” and MAID is not a solitary decision, but others and communities are implicated. Each contributor pushes the reader into the religious realm of meaning and value and so raise important points not considered in the secular realm.
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Notes
- 1.
- 2.
World Population Review, Muslim Population by Country 2022, World Population Review. https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/muslim-population-by-country.
- 3.
Smith (2001).
- 4.
Nasr (2002).
- 5.
Kersten (2019).
- 6.
Zubaida (2009).
- 7.
Aghababaei (2013).
- 8.
Ali (2011).
- 9.
Nasafi (2021).
- 10.
Ali (2011).
- 11.
Topics of Quran. http://www.topicsofquran.com/toq/quran-translations/display?tid=664&s=4&f=29&t=29 Accessed February 28, 2022.
- 12.
Madadin et al. (2020).
- 13.
Izgandarova (2015).
- 14.
Freeland (1997).
- 15.
Sachedina (2005).
- 16.
Saeed et al. (2015).
- 17.
Malek (2018).
- 18.
Canadian Council of Imams. Senate of Canada https://sencanada.ca/content/sen/committee/432/LCJC/Briefs/CanadianCouncilofImams_e.pdf Accessed, February 28, 2022.
- 19.
Chakraborty et al. (2017).
- 20.
Al-Shahri and Al-Khenaizan (2005).
- 21.
Baddarni (2010).
- 22.
Leong et al. (2016).
- 23.
Sachedina (2005).
- 24.
Rathor et al. (2014).
- 25.
Aramesh and Shadi (2007).
- 26.
Jafary (1996).
- 27.
Ayuba (2016).
- 28.
Ahaddour et al. (2018).
- 29.
Izgandarova (2015).
- 30.
Damghi et al. (2011).
- 31.
Razban et al. (2016).
- 32.
Kelsall (2018).
- 33.
College of Physicians and Surgeons Ontario. Medical Assistance in Dying. https://www.cpso.on.ca/Physicians/Policies-Guidance/Policies/Medical-Assistance-in-Dying Accessed February 28, 2022.
- 34.
College of Physicians and Surgeons of British Columbia. Practice Standard—Medical Assistance in Dying https://www.cpsbc.ca/files/pdf/PSG-Medical-Assistance-in-Dying.pdf Accessed February 17, 2022.
- 35.
Kelsall (2018).
- 36.
Rizvi (2019).
- 37.
Jews are a small but diverse people with many ways to understand the proper relationship between God and humankind. The author of this essay is a rabbi in the Conservative Movement, and she relies on the rulings of Jewish law (halachah) made by the Committee on Jewish Law and Standards, the leading decision-making body on matters of halachah for the Conservative Movement. Other branches of Judaism take different approaches to this matter of life and death.
- 38.
Judaism does not, however, require one to begin or continue machines and medications that do not benefit the patient in that patient’s evaluation. In addition, pain medication should be used to relieve suffering even if that medication may hasten death, so long as the intent is to alleviate pain. Dorff, Elliot N., “Assisted Suicide/Aid in Dying Reconsidered: “God’s Compassion Embraces All God’s Creations (Psalms 145:9)”,” https://www.rabbinicalassembly.org/sites/default/files/2021-04/Assisted%20Suicide%20Revisited%20final.pdf (accessed 5/10/2022) 4, 33, 42.
- 39.
Dorff, Elliot N. “Assisted Suicide,” https://www.rabbinicalassembly.org/sites/default/files/public/halakhah/teshuvot/19912000/dorff_suicide.pdf (accessed 5/10/2022) 380–381.
- 40.
Dorff, Elliot N. “Aid in Dying Reconsidered,” 28.
- 41.
Sifrei Devarim 49:1, Ekev, on Deuteronomy 11:22.
- 42.
Dorff, “Aid in Dying Reconsidered,” 43.
- 43.
Dorff, Aid in Dying Reconsidered,” 43–44. A Jewish healthcare professional may provide aid in dying under the circumstances specified in this essay, but Jewish law does not obligate them to do so, even to patients in uncontrollable pain.
- 44.
Dorff, “Aid in Dying Reconsidered,” 6.
- 45.
CTV News. “Woman with Disabilities Nears Medically Assisted Death after Futile Bid for Affordable Housing,” (April 30, 2022, updated May 4, 2022) https://www.ctvnews.ca/health/woman-with-disabilities-nears-medically-assisted-death-after-futile-bid-for-affordable-housing-1.5882202 (accessed May 10, 2022).
- 46.
Dorff, “Aid in Dying Reconsidered,” 6–7.
- 47.
Dorff, “Aid in Dying Reconsidered,” 34.
- 48.
Kenny (2017).
- 49.
New Jerusalem Bible: Standard Edition (1999). All bible quotations are from the New Jerusalem Bible:Standard Edition.
- 50.
Catechism of the Catholic Church (1993).
- 51.
Catechism of the Catholic Church, no. 27.
- 52.
Pope John Paul II. Evangelium Vitae, no. 66. Located at: https://www.vatican.va/content/john-paul-ii/en/encyclicals/documents/hf_jp-ii_enc_25031995_evangelium-vitae.html.
- 53.
Pope Benedict XVI, Angelus, February 1, (2009). Located at: https://www.vatican.va/content/benedict-xvi/en/angelus/2009/documents/hf_ben-xvi_ang_20090201.html.
- 54.
Pope John Paul II. Salvific Doloris, (1984). Located at: https://www.vatican.va/content/john-paul-ii/en/apost_letters/1984/documents/hf_jp-ii_apl_11021984_salvifici-doloris.html.
- 55.
Pope Francis. Evangelium Gaudi, no. 24. Located at: https://www.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/apost_exhortations/documents/papa-francesco_esortazione-ap_20131124_evangelii-gaudium.html.
- 56.
Pope Francis. Address to the Pontifical Academy of Life, March 5, 2015. Located at: https://www.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/speeches/2015/march/documents/papa-francesco_20150305_pontificia-accademia-vita.html.
- 57.
Catechism of the Catholic Church, no. 2279.
- 58.
The Enuma Elish is an ancient Babylonian creation story with both similarities and differences from the creation story in the Hebrew bible in Genesis. It sheds light on Biblical scholars’ understanding of the creation story in the book of Genesis.
- 59.
I am referring to the May 25, 2017 New York Times article about John Shields, titled “At His Own Wake, Celebrating Life and the Gift of Death,” by Catherine Porter, where Shields, who requested and received MAID, communicated to Porter that he “believed that dying openly and without fear could be his most meaningful legacy.”
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I would like to thank Matthew R. Anderson for suggesting the title of this chapter.
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Jamieson, C., Absolon, K., Ahmed, S.Z., Clark, R.C., Kenny, S.N., Kotiuga, N. (2023). Spirit at the Gateway: Religious Reflections on Medical Assistance in Dying. In: Kotalik, J., Shannon, D.W. (eds) Medical Assistance in Dying (MAID) in Canada . The International Library of Bioethics, vol 104. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-30002-8_28
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