Defining Dignity
Captain Ron’s VIEW FROM THE BRIDGE
April 2010
Dignity means I get to choose when I’ve had enough and can’t face another day.
Dignity means not having my granddaughter wipe me after a bowel movement.
Dignity means being surrounded by my loved-ones at home.
Dignity means having my wishes respected by my family and friends.
All of these have been given in answer to the question, “What does the word ‘dignity’ mean to you?” It’s a word that means different things to different people, and its definition changes with circumstance. The way I define dignity today may be vastly different that thirty years from now when I’m incontinent, bedridden and dying. I bring it up because last week I was interviewed for a newspaper article.
The article commemorated the one-year anniversary of the implementation of Washington State’s Physician-Aided-Death law. Note that proponents refer to it as the Death with Dignity law and opponents call it Physician-Assisted-Suicide. Obviously these two positions would fail to agree on the definition of ‘dignity.’
Proponents would say that an individual has the ultimate right to choose his or her own destiny and that this right should extend to the timing of the individual’s death. Dignity means having control. A survey of those who sought the legal lethal dose on Oregon between 1998 and 2008 provided input and insights into the reasons why one might choose to end one’s life. One hundred percent of respondents said it was a matter of control. They were living under the shadow of a terminal medical diagnosis. Some disease processes rob the person of control over their own bodies. Some say it is undignifying to have another person have to clean them after bodily functions. Some fear their final days with diseases such as Lou Gherig’s Disease in which they may die aware of the fact that their lungs have just quit working. Dignity means ending it before it gets to that point.
Over-against that we have the religious objections to any form of self-demise. In the Western Hemisphere any form of suicide is considered taboo, though the taboo is breaking down. In Eastern cultures it is often seen as an honorable way to avoid causing additional burden or shame to a family. Both West and East, however, agree that the community, not the individual, is what’s important. An individual has a social or moral obligation to act in a fashion that upholds and strengthens the community. Choosing one’s own death day and time is undignified because it robs the community of going through a natural process with the patient. Dignity means ‘bucking up and taking your fair share,’ as the British would put it.
Ultimately Hospice focuses on finding that balance between the patient’s right to define dignity and the effect of the patient’s choices on his or her friends, family and our Hospice staff. While we do not deny that a patient has a right to define dignity as being able to end her own life, we also uphold that our staff will not dignify the action of self-demise by assisting or witnessing such an act. We don’t turn anyone away but we know the limits of what we offer. We believe that by offering the best possible care, the point becomes moot and death comes in its own time.
Rev. Ron Jetter, Executive Director
Lower Valley Hospice and Palliative Care