I just want to share with you that last week one of my patients asked me, very discretely, what I thought about Governor Brown’s signing of the euthanasia bill. I immediately understood he didn’t pose the question just for the sake of small talk. This beautiful elderly gentleman is very sick and suffers from a chronic, debilitating illness. Five years ago he was told he hadn’t long to live, but instead…”Here I am!” he told me with an endearing smile. We talked and talked, and suddenly I became aware of the fact that the euthanasia bill had raised in him a moral dilemma: in a way, it made him question his right to keep on living in spite of his age and terminal illness. I was shocked by the discovery of the anguishing effect this act of “public policy” had had on the heart and mind of that gentleman—and probably on the hearts and minds of all the elderly and sick! I tried to explain as best I could what the bill meant, but most of all I told him that the truth was different than what “public policy” or “public opinion” proclaimed. The truth was what his heart was shouting! He humbly wants to keep on living the way he’s allowed in his present conditions; he has a son who loves him, and “several young people who come to tell me their problems, and I want to continue helping them to sort life out,” he told me.

With a friend’s help I searched the most recent statements of the Church about euthanasia. I suggest everyone read Pope Francis’ message for the 2015 World Day of the Sick, and to go to www.usccb.org/toliveeachday to look at the American Bishops’ statement on euthanasia. It helps!