Physician-assisted prayer

Some years ago a family member asked me to look in on a neighbour — an elderly woman — who was in a London hospital. I thought of her when I heard of Canada's Supreme Court ruling on physician-assisted suicide.

The neighbour was on a machine to help her breathe. She appeared to be sleeping. There were no efforts being made to feed her.

This woman would not have qualified for help from a doctor to end her life according to the recent court ruling. The Globe and Mail reports that to be eligible for assistance a patient must have a grievous and irremediable medical condition. Her stroke would have fulfilled this requirement. However, she would not have been able to meet other criteria. She could not give clear consent to her death, nor was she enduring intolerable suffering.

Many of us have been at the bedside of a loved one who does not have long for this world. I was there for the last hours of my mother's life. I didn't arrive quickly enough when my father died, but was able to join family members as my wife's mother came to the end.

At the bedside of the family neighbour in London we had a long conversation. We heard the prognosis from the doctor. He made it clear that without significant intervention she did not have long to live. The nurses assured us that they would do all that was necessary to keep our friend comfortable. We were made to understand that if we removed the breathing assistance she would likely not be able to breathe on her own.

Family members recalled that she would not have wanted extreme measures to keep her alive.  The longer we talked, the greater the consensus that this loved woman was being kept artificially alive by a machine. There seemed to be no point in not allowing her body to do what it naturally wanted to do, to die. The conversation moved to the possibility of turning the breathing machine off.

And so we did.

We read a passage from the Bible — a Psalm. Many of the songs and poems recall the care of God through difficult times. The machine was turned off. She breathed, perhaps a couple of dozen times. And then one of the pauses became 20 seconds long, then 30, then 60 and then minutes. I think we sang a verse of a well-known hymn and prayed once more.

There will be times when all of us are with loved ones who are near death. Some of them may be in great pain. Opportunities for words and touches of comfort will be there. Options to control pain will hopefully be well understood. In rare cases there will be intolerable pain that may be extremely hard to manage. It appears that in Canada there will be the option of bringing a life to an end. Each case will be different.

In my experience it is a great help when family or friends who love the patient remain present.  They need nurses and doctors who bring forward their views with compassion and accuracy.  There should be words about the enduring care of God through all things and prayers for his blessing. And hymns, songs about God's grace, can be a terrific comfort and encouragement to the patient in her last hours.

The end of a life is never welcome. But it can be bearable, and even an opportunity for blessing.

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