|
Euthanisia Page |
EUTHANISIA
FOR REAL - Your 89 year old dad's leg go gangrenous
|
|
 |
“Dad”
and grand daughters
Deb and Christy |
|
The
surgeons say he is going to die if you leave his leg on.
He'll also probably die if you allow them to amputate
to stop the gangrene spreading. Then someone suggests
the best thing would be to "give him a needle and put
him to sleep, it would end his suffering". Not a hypothetical
situation, but one which happened in Australia during
the first week of August, 2000. John Mackay's dad was
rushed to hospital following an ulcerated bowel and mild
heart attack. Loss of blood pressure was followed by the
death of his foot and the spread of gangrene. What a choice!
Leave the leg on and he will die slowly, or chop it off
and he may die quickly from shock. Everything we could
find about gangrene told us he would die and maybe slowly,
with awful pain resistant to most painkilling drugs. We
didn't want dad to die from shock either. At 89 years
of age, the body hasn't much resistance left. |
| The
God of the Bible commands us "to honour our parents" (Exodus
20:12). In the last 3 years the Mackay family has discovered
what a high price can come with that commandment. Since
John's mum first broke a leg almost 3 years ago, and then
had a stroke, she and dad began slowly to go downhill.
The increasing burden of care brought to light there just
weren't enough hours in the day to run a successful Creation
Research ministry and care for aging parents, visit them
in hospitals, visit them separately in nursing homes plus
try to take one to the other and help them deal with increasing
mental and social decline. Yes, its very easy to understand
why most aged people in nursing homes and hospitals don't
get visits from children. The sheer practicality is almost
overwhelming. It's also easy to understand why society
would willingly accept euthanasia. We have reached the
point in medicine, where we are smart enough to be able
to keep bodies alive, yet not wise enough to know if we
should, and clever enough to put a body "to sleep" with
no difficulty. also live in a world where many reject
the authority of God as Creator. It is therefore easy
to predict an increasing trend to not only willingly put
aging parents "to sleep", but to extend such a fate to
anyone who becomes a social burden. Surprisingly, in the
end the same tragic fate will be willingly accepted by
those, and for those, who originally suggested it as a
convenient elimination of their social burdens. did we
do for Dad? If we dithered and made no decision, he would
linger for a week or a month and die painfully from gangrene.
It was within our power to stop the gangrene, yet we did
know Dad might not come out of an amputation. So we did
make a decision and we did say our goodbyes before the
operation, plus pray with Dad and counsel him. If he did
not survive, it would not be because he had been simply
"put to sleep". He would be standing before the Almighty
God giving account of himself against God's standards.
One consequence could be an eternity bearing the penalties
of his own sins in a place which Jesus describes in Luke
16:19-31 and Matthew 25:31-46, as a burning hell where
people consciously suffer forever. His alternative was
to accept Christ's forgiveness for his sin and admit the
fact that Christ's death on the cross at Calvary had been
sufficient payment for his sin. Then he would be welcomed
into heaven for eternity - a place of conscious delight
and joy where he would never regret the losing of his
leg, because the Saviour Christ who also happens to be
the Creator would, in the new heavens and the new earth,
give him a new body that could never suffer gangrene or
aging again. the past 3 years of Mum and Dad's decline,
we have really struggled to find time to both maintain
the Creation Research ministry and care for John's parents.
We would like to thank those of you who have prayed for
us and stood with us. |
|
|
