The Good Death
Daily Observer
S.Q.
Lapius stomped into the house caring half the slush
of the city with him. He shucked his
galoshes in the foyer, hung his dripping coat and hat over the rack and minced
into the kitchen, to emerge eventually with a cup of tea. He set the cup on the end table near his
recliner and returned to the kitchen, this time emerging with a jar of honey
from which he ladled two teaspoons of the rich goo
into his cup, persuaded somehow, that it would not add to his ample girth.
“The
honey dissolves, Harry,” he said, in anticipation of my comment, and as if his
explanation explained anything.
“I
take it the
“Yes. Not only did she die, but I was interrogated
by the administrator as to the cause of her death.”
“But
it was leukemia, wasn’t it?”
“Of
course it was. But at the end she was
anemic and hemorrhaging, and losing vision in her left eye and very frightened,
so I gave her some morphine. The nurse
on the case refused to give it. Said it
would kill the girl and she wouldn’t be party to euthanasia, and when I gave
the injection, she reported me to the administrator.”
“Will
anything come of it?”
“Possibly. They will
probably bring the case up at the quarterly meeting.”
“Well,
you didn’t commit euthanasia, and even if you did, it’s becoming the vogue
now. You read about it all the time,
like you used to read articles about the propriety of abortion before that
became legal.”
“Of
course, Harry,” Lapius said, sipping gingerly at the
steaming tea. “In the strictest sense I
did commit euthanasia. I tried to
assuage the pain and fears of the little girl so that she could die
comfortably. That’s all that euthanasia
meant originally, as defined by Karl Marx, not the communist, but the doctor of
the same name who lived 50 years earlier.
Euthanasia means the good death.
Only in the last half century or so has the word been interpreted to
mean mercy killing.”
“But
in fact, Lapius, didn’t the morphine hasten her
death?”
“Who
knows, Harry? I gave her a dose that
would not kill a normal girl. But
possibly the dose would hasten the death of a child as sick as she.”
“I
guess there’s a fine line between ‘good death’ and ‘mercy killing’. Do you think they should legalize euthanasia,
Simon?”
“No
I don’t think they should legalize euthanasia.
I didn’t think they should legalize abortion. I don’t think that society can sanction the
taking of a life and still remain intact.”
“But
don’t you occasionally put someone out of their misery, by either an act of
commission or omission?”
“Possibly.”
“Don’t
be coy, Simon. You know you do. We all do.”
Lapius nursed the tea thoughtfully. He was reluctant to get drawn into this
controversy. Finally he looked up. “To be frank, Harry, if I were forced to make
a choice between abortion and euthanasia, I would choose euthanasia. After all, the being that is aborted is
fresh, with the potential energy for a full and productive life locked up in
its genes. The sick elderly person has
already spent his treasure of life’s vital forces. Even if his life is saved, he can’t be
reconstructed. The best we can do is to
return him to some stage of useless chronic disability. Now I am against all forms of killing, mind
you, but given a choice, society would be better off choosing euthanasia over
abortion.”
“But
society will have its way, Simon. They
will, you know, have both abortion and euthanasia before too long.”
“I
am afraid you are right, Harry. But it
is a grievous error.”
“But
you admit Simon, that sometimes a doctor does give a drug or withhold an
antibiotic to hasten death.”
“Of
course we do.”
“Well,
how can you admit that and still be against it.”
“I
am against institutionalizing it. I am
against including permission to kill in the statutes. I am against having the right to life or
death put into the hands of some administrative group who will make decisions
from a distance. An individual can do
certain deeds in the privacy of his conscience that society can’t afford to
do.”
“But
if you do it as an individual it is still murder.”
“Yes
Harry. It is still murder, if you
will. The individual will have to take
the risk of being appropriately punished by his Gods, his conscience or his
peers. But once society agrees to take a
life there is no countervailing force. A
nation can’t permit itself to sanction the taking of life for good cause,
because it soon may make laws permitting the taking of life for frivolous
causes, or no cause at all.”
Lapius stopped talking suddenly. I looked over at him. Tears were rolling down his check.