These words out of Hamlet’s soliloquy, penned by William Shakespeare in Act III of his play Hamlet, comprise one of the best-known and most often quoted phrases in English literature.
To be or not to be – that is the question:
Whether ’tis nobler in the mind to suffer
The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,
Or to take arms against a sea of troubles
And, by opposing, end them. To die, to sleep –
In this soliloquy that runs over 30 lines, a despondent Prince Hamlet weighs the sufferings of life with the possibility of a self-inflicted death. Trapped in a maze of torturous circumstances, he considers for a moment that death is the only escape, and yet the uncertainty of the unknown causes him to hesitate. Hamlet’s struggle portrays an age-old dilemma that still troubles us today, and the problem will only be exacerbated as the population of the United States and of Europe grows older decade after decade. When the physical and psychological suffering of old age can no longer be managed through the advances of medical science, the individual is confronted with the question of Hamlet: “To be or not to be”.
All of us remember the 1998 case of Dr. Kevorkian who, in my opinion, truly believed that he was performing a service to terminally ill patients by providing them with a lethal dose of medication. In the case of Thomas Youk, he actually administered the lethal injection himself and subsequently was convicted in a Michigan court of second-degree homicide. Euthanasia in this form is still illegal in the United States, although physician aid in dying (PAD) is legal in some states such as Oregon, California and Vermont. The decision of the California legislature was very recent and the law will not go into effect until January 1, 2016.
The debate about euthanasia is not simply an American phenomenon. The Europeans countries are also struggling with this issue, and just last week, the German Parliament passed new legislation that prohibits any organization from assisting a patient’s suicide. On the other hand, two such organizations – Exit and Dignitas – operate in Switzerland and are allowed to assist patients who wish to terminate their lives, although the patients themselves must administer the lethal dosage. Belgium has gone even further and now allows physicians to administer lethal injection when requested by the patient. Not surprisingly, any form of assistance with suicide is prohibited in Greece where the Greek Orthodox Church still has a strong political voice.
As in many other areas, the discussion about euthanasia has been polarized in a predictable fashion. On the liberal side, the proponents of euthanasia have argued that the human right of the patient to self-determination must be respected. On the conservative side, opponents have insisted that life is in some sense sacred and cannot ethically be terminated at will. So here we have Hamlet’s dilemma again: “To be or not to be”. To bear the suffering of life or to enter “the unknown country from whose bourn (frontier) no traveler returns”.
Those of us who are still relatively healthy can debate this issue theoretically, politically and religiously, but none of us really knows how he or she will think about it when actually confronted with the ultimate question: “To be or not to be”. My own views on the matter have oscillated over the years, and an opinion piece is too short to go into detail. Nevertheless, there is one thought that I would like to share with my readers. I think that the liberal notion of self-determination is, to put it bluntly, nonsense. Appealing to an absolute right of self-determination often leads to decisions that are irresponsible and selfish, and such an appeal certainly does not do justice to the social reality in which we live. What I do makes a difference to the people around me – to my wife, to my children, to my friends and ultimately to the society in which I live –, and a narrow focus on my right of self-determination is not likely to further the common good in our society. Our decisions have consequences in a network of relationships, and these relationships must be respected alongside our desire for self-determination.
Villager Jack E. Brush is a regular contributor to Villages-News.com
