wfn.org | ELCA Opposes Physician-Assisted Suicide

[ELCANEWS@ELCASCO.ELCA.ORG]

ELCA NEWS SERVICE

October 4, 1996

ELCA OPPOSES PHYSICIAN-ASSISTED SUICIDE (64 lines)
96-21-060-FI

     CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America
will use a message it issued in 1992 on "End-of-Life Decisions"
to address the Supreme Court of the United States on two cases it
will hear this year.  The ELCA will ask the court to uphold state
laws in New York and Washington that prohibit physician-assisted
suicide.
     Meeting here Sept. 26-28, the board of the ELCA Division for
Church in Society passed a resolution to support staff in
initiating a brief or taking other actions to address the Supreme
Court.  The vote was 14 to two, with two abstentions.  The
resolution said the board's discussion is an indication that
further study of "end-of-life concerns" may be appropriate.
     "The church has spoken on this issue, and we can do advocacy
in this area," said Ingrid Christiansen, Chicago, board chair.
"We are, as a church and in our documents, opposed to physician-
assisted suicide."
     "We recognize that it is a complicated issue, and we
certainly are not opposed to doctors and patients and families
working out helpful and spiritual ways for people to come to the
end of their lives," she said.
     "At the same time as we advocate in opposition to physician-
assisted suicide, the issues around the end of life are
increasingly complex, and they are issues that we need to
continue to pay attention to," Christiansen added.
     The ELCA's message on end-of-life decisions drew a line
between "allowing death" and "taking life."  "We oppose the
legalization of physician-assisted death, which will allow the
private killing of one person by another," it said.
     The board discussed if changes in attitudes and technology
since 1992 should alter the church's position.  Some members
questioned the appropriateness of the church addressing the
Supreme Court.
     "We need to put the possible action of the court into a
context that is both political and cultural," said Per Anderson,
Moorhead, Minn.  "We're discussing the role of physicians in our
society."
     The "advanced directive" or specific physician-patient
agreements regarding end-of-life decisions may have evolved to
the point where the church cannot make blanket statements about
physician-assisted suicide, said the Rev. Arnold L. Tiemeyer,
Blue Bell, Pa.  "We would create news that cannot be nuanced."
     "The Supreme Court of the United States can decide what it
wants, but ultimately it's a decision that two people make," said
Charles J. Lusch, Wyomissing, Pa.
     The board said the cases coming to the Supreme Court created
an "historic moment."  If state laws prohibiting physician-
assisted suicide are unconstitutional, discussion short of a
constitutional amendment would be closed.
     The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in the case
of "Compassion in Dying v. State of Washington" and the U.S.
Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit in the case of "Timothy
E. Quill v. Dennis C. Vacco" decided that state laws in New York
and Washington against physician-assisted suicide are
unconstitutional.
     Both cases have been brought to the Supreme Court.  On Oct.
1 the court decided it will hear arguments to overturn the
appellate court rulings.

For information contact: Ann Hafften, Dir., ELCA News Service,
(312) 380-2958 or AHAFFTEN@ELCA.ORG; Frank Imhoff, Assoc. Dir.,
(312) 380-2955 or FRANKI@ELCA.ORG