State-Sanctioned Suicide – Update

Please contact you NYS Senator now to register you support for life affirming care, not State-Sanctioned Suicide (euphemistically called Medical Aid in Dying, aka MAiD).

This may be coming up for a vote soon

Lawmakers expect to vote on the late state budget next week, which would leave just over a month left of session to address other business.

…”next week” will start on Monday, May 19, so now is the time to act!

While any and all State-Sanctioned Suicide is categorically wrong, it is worth noting that even for those in favor, this bill has serious flaws:

Modern medicine can alleviate almost all physical pain, but we need to do better addressing existential suffering. The response to suffering should never be to end the sufferer.

The bill has no residency requirement, no waiting period, no requirement for a psychiatric evaluation and no oversight of lethal medications. The bill applies to those not terminal with treatment, e.g., Type I diabetes. Pressure to expand assisted suicide to children, the healthy but tired-of-life, the cognitively impaired and others worthy of both life and our care is inevitable. This bill rejects human duty toward each other and would lead to euthanasia and involuntary deaths

Remember, any supposed “safeguards” will eventually be removed. They just don’t stick.

Proposed changes to Oregon’s 25-year-old Death with Dignity Act could expand access

FLG and LECOM

Dr. Lada and Dr. Carroll had the opportunity to visit the Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine (LECOM) in Elmira yesterday. They were invited to discuss faith and medicine. It was a wonderful group who were very kind, interested, and asked great questions!

Thank you to Jan Ziembicki (pictured – far left) for organizing!

Help Oppose Physician Assisted Suicide in NY!

Please take a moment to review the current state of Physician Assisted Suicide in NY…and…please contact your NY State Assembly Member and Senator today!

Thank you to our NYS Bishops, who are always ready to lead the charge into the breach! We also appreciate their efforts to Reclaim the Language with the term “State-Sanctioned Suicide.” It is important to use accurate terms generally and only more so as the Culture of Death attempts to obscure the truth by changing the language!

You can use this page to find your NYS Senator. Please do so soon as they could vote any day!

More info can be found at these links:

NYS Catholic Conference

1. Assisted Suicide page, including a link to Episode 14 of the Catholic Compass podcast featuring our own Dr. Thomas Carroll!

2. Prolife Activities – Assisted Suicide & Euthanasia, which has links to many helpful resources.

NY Alliance Against Assisted Suicide

Brain Death Symposium

Thank you to the NCBC for organizing what sounds like an amazing conference on the controversial topic of Brain Death. This is a perfect example of there being disagreement among a number of reasonable, and faithful!, Catholics who have demonstrated the ability to come together an talk to each other like adults. It’s a great example for us all…and…a sad commentary on our world today that this is notable!

You can find a summary of a symposium here.

In Vitro Fertilization

In Vitro Fertilization (IVF) is in the news and it’s something all Catholics should be aware of. This is a challenging issue in many ways…and…Church teaching is abundantly clear that IVF is never acceptable.

We recognize this can be a difficult teaching, which makes it only more important that we understand why the Church teaches this…both for our own peace of mind and so we can help others understand.

To that end, here are two resources:

  1. From the CMA – What Catholic Social Teaching Says About the Status of Embryos Part One
  2. Peter Colosi, PhD – Catholic Wisdom on the Origin of Human Life and its Link to Human Relationships (PDF)
  3. From the National Catholic Register – 15 Questions Catholics Ask About In Vitro Fertilization

IVF will remain a challenge for Church teaching in or (post)modern world. Please pray for all involved!