Euthanasia and the dignity of human life

A disturbing new book, entitled “A Bittersweet Season,” documents one woman’s determination to follow through with a suicide pact to starve and dehydrate her 88-year old mother, Estelle.

The author, former New York Times reporter Julie Gross, says that while her mother was not terminally ill, she simply wanted to die due to deteriorating health. The entire euthanasia process, which included the deliberate withholding of all food and water, took nearly two weeks to complete and ended on the 13th day with Estelle’s death (according to Gross, “getting her wish”).

LifeSiteNews reports on the story, and this shocking quote speaks volumes:

“As the days passed, I watched the hands of the clock from my perch in a corner of my mother’s room,” she writes. “They seemed to have stopped moving. She soon became a curiosity, as staff stood in her doorway to watch the old lady who would not die. I accused staff of sneaking her ice cubes when my back was turned. I was twitching with impatience. I wanted my mother to hurry up and die, and was ashamed to admit it.”

When we begin to devalue the dignity of any life – at any age, at any time – the consequences are astoundingly dangerous. It is the protection of those most helpless or vulnerable in our society that matters most.

— 2011 (c) Live Action —