By Abbey Gingras, gingraa@miamioh.edu
A few issues back, we published a staff editorial supporting the Death with Dignity Act, a law that lets terminally ill patients end their lives with the help of a doctor.
As an opinion editor at The Miami Student, I was responsible for writing the piece that reflected our board's collective viewpoint and I wasn't surprised when we received some negative reactions. Last week, one of our columnists, Greg Dick, wrote a response disagreeing with the Editorial Board's opinion. In this issue, a former editor for The Miami Student, Olivia Hnat, wrote a letter to the editor (see right) voicing her disapproval.
I've decided this topic warrants a response to Dick, Hnat and anyone who questioned our reasoning - but this time, with my own opinion.
As I read through their pieces before putting them into the newspaper, I enjoyed hearing their views, for the most part. More people need to be open minded about the perspectives of others; that's one of the main reasons I love running the opinion page. Although, I respect and understand Dick's and Hnat's views, I have to stand by my own thoughts and, at the same time, stick up for our staff's opinion.
First and foremost, it was not our intent to "promote suicide," as Dick stated. I personally view medically assisted suicide and suicide as very different issues, but that is something for another column on another day.
We at The Miami Student understand suicide hits close to home for a lot of people, including myself. Our intent was to start a discussion on an issue that tends to be forgotten, swept to the back of our minds as more prominent issues like gun control and same sex marriage seize our attention.
I would also like to note that our piece was in support of people having the right to make their own choice about how they die, not in support of people taking their own lives. We certainly didn't mean to discredit opposing opinions on the matter, as people like Maggie Karner and Lauren Hill (mentioned in Dick's article) openly share.
For my personal opinion, I fully support the Death with Dignity agenda - even if it's not necessarily a choice I would make myself.
I grew up in a strongly Catholic household. I attended church once a week, I went to religion classes and I became a counselor at a YMCA camp where faith is an important component of what we teach kids.
Even though religion has played a major role in my life thus far, I think it's unfair to assume that faith alone is enough to get everyone through a terminal illness - especially people who don't share the same religious values as I do.
In the past year, I lost my uncle and my great aunt to cancer, so I say this with personal experience. They both battled their illnesses for years, and were aware in advance that their battles would be ending soon. For my wonderful and strong relatives, faith was enough. They fought until the end of their lives and were at peace with their fate thanks to their reliance on God.
For them, and others like Karner and Hill, faith is enough. I think that's something that is so amazing and should be supported. But, I don't think faith should be a reason that we discredit the choices of some to end their lives rather than fight a terminal illness.
Hnat states, "'Death with Dignity' is another phrase for suicide, just as 'Pro Choice' is for abortion." She's right, in a way, that we have rephrased these things to sound more appealing. However, someone can be Pro Choice and not themselves support abortion, just as I support Death with Dignity, but would not commit suicide or ever encourage others to commit suicide.
I don't know how death will come to me. I don't know if I will end up with cancer when I'm in my sixties or Alzheimer's when I'm in my seventies, or if I will be blessed to die naturally in my sleep at a very old age.
But, I do know that death is frightening for a lot of people. For some, like my relatives, faith and belief in God and heaven is enough to give comfort in times of fear. However, not everyone finds faith in these things.
Just like Dick says, we can't discredit people for choosing to keep living because of their faith, we can't discredit people for choosing to die in a more peaceful manner than what their illness will give them.
Unless we find ourselves in a situation where we have to make this choice, I don't think any of us can truly say what our views are on the issue. At the end of the day, had my relatives told me that they chose medically assisted suicide so that they could be with their loved ones when they passed away in peace, I can't imagine denying them of that choice.