News-Record.com

Here's a comment for "old-timers." I'm reminded of the Star Trek episode called "The Conscience of the King." It revolved around the hunt for a former space colony governor who was wanted for horrific "crimes against humanity." This terrible crime he supposedly committed was not revealed until the end of the show.

It turned out that the colony had found that their life-support supplies were going to run out a week or more before any more supply ships could arrive. People were bound to die by the thousands. The governor had decided that it would be possible to save some of the people by executing others, thus allowing the survivors to have enough air and food to survive until rescue arrived.

When I heard that, I had to wonder why he was considered a monster. In that situation, his choice was the best solution, and kept the largest number of people possible alive.

Certainly, the situation in New Orleans was not the same, but there were perhaps some similarities. Because of governmental incompetence, plans had not been made for removing all hospital patients in the case of a looming city-killing disaster. In the face of certain death (hypothetically), was mercy killing not a viable option? Should the health care workers have stayed longer and done more to comfort patients until they died more painfully?

Those are hard questions to face, and I'm glad I haven't had to face anything like it so far in my life. I have sympathy for those who did face them and made their choices. You ask if they should be prosecuted. That is one way that the people of a community can get a chance to review the facts of what happened and pass their judgement. I hope that they have a fair trial and that the system deals with this wisely.

" was mercy killing not a viable option? "

isn't mercy killing an oxymoron ?
eric in all honesty, if your mom were lying in that hospital (even assuming she was terminal) would you give your blessing to a dr. or nurse to kill your mom ?
i watched my mom die an agonizing death from cancer, she never asked to die (even though she wasn;t given much time) and i don't believe a dr. or nurse has any right to kill another person - atually don't that stand counter to the hippocratic oath (i'm definitely not up to speed on this oath but am under impression dr. are suppose to make efforts to sustain life)? i guess if in this same scenario your mom asked for an injection that would end her life and administered it to herself,then she was in control of her own destiny and would be held accountable for her actions.
in my mom's case, her human spirit wanted to live and it had HOPE of another day. i for one hope we as a civilization never believe that expediency is more precious than life.

Even though Chirstians believe that human life is exceedingly precious, because we are created in the image of God and possess awareness of our existence and of our responsibility to obey the moral Law (Thou shalt do no murder), there are situations that push people to the brink of delerium and despair, when normal moral judgments become blurred.

There was a crontroversy in the early Church, precipitated by the fact that many of the faithful had denied the Faith (lapsi) in the face of severe persecutions and pain (some, however, caved under less extreme pressures - see Augustine and the Donatists)

The question was whether to receive them back into the fold, or only under certain conditions. Those who opted for their return argued that they had been pushed to a point beyond most people's capacity to endure pain or privation, and that even though there were some who were able to endure, not all had the same capacity. It was a big issue because bearing witness (Gr. MARTUREO)the truth of the Gospel and honoring the Savior were at stake. But, in mercy and understanding, the reality of human limits was also taken into account, and restoration offered.

The general policy for Christains should be to opt for life up to the very limits of human endurance, and trust that whatever decisions made at that point are as moral and right as possible.
The Scripture affirms that God understands our limits and weaknesses, and judges accordingly.

In saying this, I am not advocating euthanasia as it is being popularized today. Once you start down the slippery slope of ending pain by killing your self in your easy chair or hospital bed, the slide begins into a place we really don't want to go; where enduring severe pain or discomfort is dealt with too easily by ending life altogether; when a cure or relief may very well be in the offing. It just has all too many negative possibilities as a legal and generally accepted option.

As far as those accused in the New Orleans controversy, we will just have to trust the courts to judge fairly whether they were merely opting for convenience or expediency - or in the best interest of those concerned. Let the evidence be set forth, and justice be done.