Short Quiz

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johnkarls
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Joined: Fri Jun 29, 2007 8:43 pm

Short Quiz

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Introductory Remarks

We studied 4 years ago for our 1/9/2013 meeting the subject of Assisted Suicide.

Since the material covered by the Short Quiz for the 1/9/2013 meeting is so relevant to our focus for 1/12/2016 on “Being Mortal: Medicine and What Matters in the End” by Harvard Medical Prof. Atul Gawande, the 1/9/2013 Short Quiz is reproduced below in its entirety.

However, several additional questions are also germane. They are listed first.


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New Questions

A. Is our author, Atul Gawande, a Professor at Harvard Medical School and Harvard School of Public Health, and a Surgeon at Boston’s Brigham and Women’s Hospital?

B. Is Dr. Gawande the author of three other books: “Complications: A Surgeon’s Notes on an Imperfect Science” (2002) which was a finalist for the National Book Award and published in over 100 countries; “Better: A Surgeon’s Notes on Performance” (2007) which was selected by Amazon.com as one of the ten best books of 2007; and “The Checklist Manifesto: How to Get Things Right” (2009) which was yet another NY Times Best Seller?

C. Has Dr. Gawande, a staff writer for The New Yorker since 1998, won two National Magazine Awards, a MacArthur Fellowship, and been named one of the world's hundred most influential thinkers by both Foreign Policy Magazine and Time Magazine?

D. Was one of the book reviews posted in the Reference Materials section for our 1/12/2016 meeting on http://www.ReadingLiberally-SaltLake.org entitled “Going Gently Into The Night: A surgeon learns the lesson formulated by Cicely Saunders, the founder of hospice care: ‘Last days need not be lost days’”?

E. What is Hospice Care?

F. Does the Roman Catholic Church oppose both euthanasia and suicide (much less assisted suicide)?

G. Do many Roman Catholics believe that Roman Catholic Hospice Care in fact comprises euthanasia?

H. In stark contrast to Roman Catholic Hospice Care, do recipients of Jewish Hospice Care often survive for many years?

I. At the time of our 1/9/2013 meeting 4 years ago, was one of our regular attendees Lori Noda who, at that time, was an Assistant Utah Attorney General?

J. At our 1/9/2013 meeting, did Lori say that suicide is quite common in Japan (the country of Lori’s ancestors) and other Eastern Cultures?

K. Did Lori also say that in Japan and other Eastern Cultures, suicide is viewed as the proper thing to do when one’s honor is involved?

L. Did Lori also say that in Japan and other Eastern Cultures, when a person becomes old and believes that s/he has become a burden to others, it would be considered honorable to commit suicide?

M. Did Lori also say that when anyone commits suicide, it is presumed that honor was the motive – and there is ABSOLUTELY NO INQUIRY whether the suicide's perception of what honor demanded was appropriate? Though an inquiry regarding honor, of course, is different from an inquiry regarding whether homicide or suicide was involved, but such an inquiry takes place only if there are suspicious circumstances suggesting there has been a homicide?

N. Finally, did Lori say that Japanese and members of other Eastern cultures cannot fathom why there is such a fuss in the West about suicide?

O. Does the Reference Materials section for our 1/9/2013 meeting on Assisted Suicide on http://www.ReadingLiberally-SaltLake.org contain 13 postings including a History of Suicide, an Overview of Religious Views of Suicide, the Most-Recent Document on the Vatican Website Addressing Suicide, the Most-Recent Papal Encyclical Re Suicide; an Overview of Assisted Suicide; a description of The Hemlock Society; and the Statutory Text of the Oregon Death With Dignity Act?


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Short Quiz for our 1/9/2013 Meeting on Assisted Suicide

1. What is the difference between suicide (whether or not assisted) and euthanasia?

2. Is euthanasia illegal in all 50 states?

3. Is assisted suicide illegal in all 50 states?

4. Did Massachusetts voters narrowly defeat a ballot initiative last month to legalize assisted suicide in line with the statutes of Oregon and Washington?

5. Is the illegality of assisted suicide in 47 states the result of religion, primarily Christianity?

6. Is suicide a sin under Judaism’s Ten Commandments?

7. Is suicide a sin under Christianity’s Two Commandments?

8. Does the Roman Catholic Church condemn suicide (whether or not assisted) as a sin?

9. Do the Roman Catholic Church and those protestant denominations that view suicide as a sin, view it as a mortal sin (i.e., one that cannot be forgiven)? According to the Bible, how many mortal sins are there?

10. Why should the view of the Roman Catholic Church and some protestant denominations that suicide is a sin compel the rest of the population to refrain from assisted suicide? Isn’t this an Unconstitutional Violation of the Establishment of Religion Clause?

11. Does the view of the Roman Catholic Church and some protestant denominations that suicide is a sin constitute heresy?

12. Was suicide prevalent in the early Christian church to avoid persecution?

13. Was the first Christian to publicly denounce suicide as a sin St. Augustine in the 4th century AD? Was his motivation the curtailment of all the mass suicides that had prevailed in Christian communities to avoid persecution (vs. a theological reason)?

14. Was the first Christian to denounce suicide as a sin on theological grounds (vs. practical grounds) St. Thomas Aquinas in the 13th century? Did he denounce it as a mortal (unforgivable) sin? Was his theological position that it was an act against God’s will? If it is an act against God’s will, then isn’t all evil in the world (not just pain during a final illness) also God’s will?

15. Since suicide and assisted suicide do not necessarily violate Christ’s Two Commandments, hasn’t St. Thomas Aquinas called Christ a liar?

16. How does society treat a person who has tried unsuccessfully to commit suicide?

17. Is this de facto “one chance at suicide” policy based on the premise that committing suicide is insane? Isn’t it true that the decision to commit suicide could be perfectly rational?

18. Did Shakespeare’s characters often commit suicide for lost love or avoiding public humiliation as well as for many other rational reasons?

19. Do the Oregon and Washington assisted-suicide statutes recognize any reason other than terminal illness? Is pain a requirement?

20. Do all of the other states, so far as is known, permit a terminally-ill patient to reject life-support and die a “natural” death? If pain medications are provided during the “natural” death, then what’s the difference between that and Oregon/Washington?

21. Should assisted-suicide be permitted for reasons other than terminal illness, such as an impairment of the quality of life, or depression, or avoiding public humiliation or chronic illness that is not terminal?

22. Do the proponents of assisted suicide view it as the next great civil-rights issue?

23. Even if assisted suicide is not a civil-rights issue, isn’t it still an equal-protection-of-the-law Constitutional issue because, just like abortion prior to 1973, the wealthy can travel to permissive jurisdictions but the poor are condemned to either suffer or violate the law?

24. How much of the nation’s booming medical costs relate to care during a final illness?

25. What safeguards should be required to insure the decision is voluntary (suicide, whether or not assisted), rather than forced (whether by society or by next-of-kin)?

26. What are the lethal drugs predominantly used for assisted suicide in Oregon and Washington? How easy has it been for wannabe suicides who do not qualify for assistance in Oregon or Washington to obtain lethal drugs?

27. How does suicide by breathing helium work? [Breathing helium is the method featured in the Frontline/PBS documentary.]

28. Now that it is so easy for any wannabe suicide to simply buy helium from a party store that sells it for balloons, how easy is committing suicide painlessly and effectively without any assistance?

29. Is there still the possibility for mishaps, even with helium, that would make desirable treating assisted suicide as a civil right and providing it legal protection?

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