A new coalition has formed in Minnesota following a recent push to legalize physician-assisted suicide in the state. The Minnesota Alliance for Ethical Healthcare aims to oppose assisted suicide and advance life-affirming care through advocacy and education.
The alliance of 35 partner organizations includes the Minnesota Catholic Conference, Catholic Health Association of Minnesota, the Knights of Columbus state council, other faith-based groups as well as disability advocacy organizations. It has organized a petition urging the Minnesota Medical Association to maintain its long-standing opposition to assisted suicide.
The petition, which was signed by over 500 Minnesota medical professionals, urges the MMA to support advances in palliative care and efforts to make quality health care more affordable and accessible.
“The goal is to build a widespread coalition so that the voice of the Catholic Church is not the only voice talking about this issue,” said Father Tom Knoblach, consultant for health care ethics for the St. Cloud Diocese.
“It’s not just a religious or moral concern but it represents a social concern that affects all of us,” he added. “People of various faith traditions or no faith tradition at all share the concern about the kind of society we would create if we focus on legalizing assisted suicide instead of improving the already excellent resources we have in end-of-life care and making them more widely available.”
Proponents of assisted suicide attempted to legalize the practice during Minnesota’s 2016 legislative session, but the author of the bill eventually withdrew it from committee consideration. The issue could be raised again during the 2017 session.
Health care professionals
“Health care professionals are a large part of this coalition because they recognize that providing quality care throughout the spectrum of life is consistent with the vocation of medicine, and assisted suicide would be directly contrary to their social purpose in society,” Father Knoblach said.
Dr. Steve Bergeson, a family physician practicing in Shoreview, Minnesota, said in a news release Nov. 17 announcing the coalition that physician-assisted suicide is a “dangerous, unjust practice [which] undermines the patient-caregiver relationship, exposes the vulnerable to harm and deflects efforts to improve the quality and accessibility of quality healthcare at the end of life.
“We can’t advance real care if we’re hastening death,” he said.
Bergeson is one of 67 Minnesota medical professionals who have expressed their public opposition to assisted suicide by joining the Alliance as individual members. They join several medical organizations, such as the American Academy of Medical Ethics, the Pro-Life Healthcare Alliance and the Center for Bioethics and Culture, which have signed on as Alliance partners.
“Assisted suicide is presented as a choice to avoid pain, but it’s all too often pursued for non-medical reasons,” added Bergeson, noting that recent advances in palliative care allow medical professionals to more effectively manage discomfort at the end of life.
“We need to make Minnesota a state where no one feels like they need to take their own life because they can’t afford quality treatment, are experiencing loneliness or are worried about being a ‘burden’ on their family,” he said.
Advocates for persons with disabilities are also key Alliance partners, including groups like the Disability Rights Education and Defense Fund, Patients Rights Action Fund, and the American Association of People with Disabilities. They are concerned that legal assisted suicide perpetuates dangerous ideas that people with significant needs have diminished dignity, and therefore don’t deserve quality care.
“Suicide happens every day and it’s a tragedy, not a victory. Every suicide is a tragic loss and we need to recognize that as a society. We need to recognize that and not normalize it,” Father Knoblach said.
“A lot of education needs to be done on what is authentic Catholic teaching, what are the limits on our moral obligations to extend life and how palliative care and holistic spiritual care can help people make the transition into eternal life not as a medical failure but as a conclusion of their pilgrimage of faith.”