Dying and Dignity
Sojomail - April 13, 2005
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"I am not prepared to describe in detail exactly how I plan to carry out the job." - John D. Negroponte, President Bush's nominee to become director of national intelligence, responding to questions from the Senate intelligence committee. Negroponte honed his professional discretion while ambassador to Honduras, where, reports The Washington Post, his anti-communist convictions led him to play down human rights abuses. Source: The Washington Post |
| BATTERIES NOT INCLUDED |
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Dying and dignity
by David Batstone
Lo and behold, I have a story to share of heroism that takes place in the health care world. A nursing friend of mine, Mary Ann, works in a Catholic hospital in San Francisco. She was on her regular evening shift last month when the police brought into the emergency room a John Doe whom they had found lying inert on a city street. This homeless man was barely conscious, and his body had entered into the final stages of toxicity and organ shut-down that precede death. On this particular evening, not unlike most evenings at this urban San Francisco hospital, the nurses had a full slate of patients who needed attention. To Mary Ann's list was added John Doe. Mary Ann soon realized that there would be no extraordinary medical intervention to rescue John Doe's life. Her task that evening, as she understood her nursing vocation, was to accompany her patient on his journey toward death. Mary Ann continued to make her rounds with all her patients early in the evening, and made regular stops at the bed of John Doe. She noted that the man whose name she would never come to know was aware of her presence, and responded to her words of comfort. The other nurses on the ward that evening were moved by Mary Ann's spirit of compassion, and felt sympathy for a man dying alone, without apparent friend or family. To a person, the nurses spontaneously volunteered to add to their attendant list one of Mary Ann's patients so that she would be free to care solely for John Doe. Mary Ann stayed by his bedside the rest of the evening. The man could not speak to her, but he applied pressure to Mary Ann's hand in response to her prayers, stories, and consolations. He remained alert until the last breath escaped from his lungs. Death came to take him at daybreak. Mary Ann uttered one final prayer of gratitude to God for walking this gentle soul home. As Mary Ann shared this story with me, two immediate thoughts came to mind. First, it's tempting to overlook the legion of nurses, therapists, doctors, technicians, and other health care professionals who each and every day act in a way that I can only think of as heroic, or perhaps saintly. They, too, are pained by the economic system that pits revenue against care and cuts budgets along with dignity. There are individuals in the system who are trying to make a difference, and we need to honor them. Second, as John Doe lay in his hospital bed dying, saved from a totally anonymous passing by a giving spirit, the nation was transfixed with Terry Schiavo. Americans, it seems, work out their social values through pop culture - race with O.J., gender with the Bobbits, and so on - so perhaps the 24/7 media coverage of every detail of the Schiavo family is not surprising. But it strikes me that Mary Ann, on watch at the bedside of John Doe, is the symbol for an expression of "the absolute dignity of human life" that I will carry with me.
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Health care these days isn't, for all but the elite strata of our society. It's not hard to conjure up a medical nightmare tale at the local coffee shop: Just start sharing your own recent woes at a hospital, and a host of voices will chirp in with their own experiences of neglect.
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Speak out for small farms!
Under the current farm policies of the United States, large growers receive direct subsidies from the U.S. government and are guaranteed a price for their crops. The goal of the policy is to protect the livelihoods of U.S. farmers, even when the prices for their commodities fall. Unfortunately, the system is far from fair: it rewards huge corporate farms, while overlooking the needs of small farmers. The current levels of subsidies, combined with loopholes in the system that allow for multiple payments, are consolidating wealth in the hands of big agribusiness and a few farmers - hurting small family farms both in the U.S. and in the developing world. This is because subsidized crops are sold on the world market at prices so low that poor farmers abroad cannot compete. 1.3 billion of the world's poor survive on less than a dollar a day, and more than two thirds depend on farming to make a living. Improving agricultural markets and trade is critically important to poverty reduction, and to answering God's call to care for the poorest among us. The solution must start here, by putting a lid on U.S. subsidies. A bill called the Rural America Preservation Act (RAPA), recently introduced in the Senate, would place a real limit on the amount of money any single entity can receive. The bill would also close the loopholes that allow the biggest farms to receive massive government payments. This legislation would take an important step on the road toward using taxpayer dollars in a more equitable way, and promoting a more equitable and sustainable farm program. Join Sojourners in urging that your senators show their support for this bipartisan bill, and for trade justice, by adding their names to the list of co-sponsors. |
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A Gathering of Spirits: Sojourners Benefit Concert with Carrie Newcomer, hosted by Brian McLaren, will feature a special message from Jim Wallis. Join us for an evening of music and dialogue that will help sustain Sojourners' vision and programs for the coming year! The concert will be Friday, June 3, at 7:30 p.m. at Cedar Ridge Community Church, located in the Washington, D.C., metropolitan area. A catered reception with Brian, Jim, and Carrie begins at 9:30 p.m. For more information or to buy tickets, go to www.sojo.net/concert or call (800) 714-7474, ext. 235. |
| POLITICALLY CONNECT |
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REAL ID Act a really bad idea
The United States' long-standing history as a beacon of hope to people around the world fleeing political, religious, and other forms of persecution is under assault in Congress. A bill, soon to be considered in the Senate, contains provisions that will make it impossibly difficult for refugees fleeing persecution to seek safety in the United States by obtaining asylum. Under the bill, known as the REAL ID Act, trivial details - like a woman's failure to recall her date of high school graduation - could be used to deny her asylum, even though she has fled from genocide, rape, forced abortion, severe domestic violence, or the threat of honor killing. Another provision of the bill would allow a torture survivor to be delivered back into the hands of his persecutors; the bill prohibits a U.S. federal court from preventing his deportation back to his oppressive home country while his case is still pending. The REAL ID Act is based on the false argument that asylum laws in the United States are open to exploitation by terrorists. Current law already bars people who present a security risk from getting asylum - asylum seekers already undergo rigorous security and background checks from the time they apply until their cases are resolved. + Tell your senators to defend hope and protect refugees fleeing persecution. Act now! |
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Focus on free trade
The Central American Free Trade Agreement - which would keep lifesaving generic medicines from people in desperately poor countries, cut labor protections, and destroy the livelihoods of thousands of poor campesino farmers - is a terrible idea whose time, the Bush administration thinks, may have come. Although the agreement was finished eight months ago, it has not yet been put to a vote in Congress because backers knew it would lose. Now, testing the waters for a possible vote in the near future (presumably accompanied by a legislative full-court press), congressional committees will hold hearings on CAFTA on April 13 (Senate) and April 21 (House). + Take action and tell your congressmembers to vote no on CAFTA |
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How do Christians make faithful moral choices in a complex and ambiguous world? What models from scripture and church history might help us to live faithfully in the 21st century? WESLEY MINISTRY NETWORK is pleased to offer A Life Worthy of the Gospel, a six-week course for churches featuring weekly video lessons with noted ethicist Dr. Sondra Wheeler (Ph.D., Yale). Course materials will ship on July 15th. For detailed information about this and our other courses, please see our website, www.WesleyMinistryNetwork.com. WESLEY MINISTRY NETWORK is an outreach of Wesley Theological Seminary in Washington, D.C. |
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Creative nonviolence in Bethlehem
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Remembering a (sometimes) progressive pope
by Marcus Mrowka for campusprogress.org
Was Pope John Paul II a conservative or a progressive? In fact, he might not fit neatly into America's perception of either group. What do you call a politician who is anti-choice, anti-gay, against premarital sex, against the use of contraception, opposed to euthanasia and allowing women a larger role in the church, but who is anti-war, anti-poverty, anti-censorship, opposed to the death penalty, a champion of worker's rights and the poor, and a proponent of international cooperation? By American standards, this would be one confused politician. |
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SATIRE: Fox shocks with plot to rock the Vatican vote
"Instead of the College of Cardinals meeting in a secrecy-shrouded conclave, contestants would be drawn from open auditions at malls, civic centers, and cathedrals around the world," said Vaughn Wagner, Fox Executive Vice President for Exploiting Religious People. "Each week, they would showcase their talents as they administer sacraments, bless things, maintain balance while waving to crowds from a careening pope-mobile, and of course, the all-important vestment competition. (Tip: It never hurts to show a little leg.)" Not to be outdone, CBS has asked the Anglican Church to consider stranding its next batch of candidates for Archbishop of Canterbury on a desert island, to be eliminated one by one through a televised series of physical challenges, endurance of disgusting and terrifying ordeals, and resistance to sexual temptations in a no-holds-barred conglomeration of Survivor, Fear Factor, and Temptation Island. The winner will then be rewarded with marriage (because Anglicans can) to a supposed wealthy aristocrat who will turn out to be an adulterous fraud - sort of Hosea meets My Big Fat Obnoxious Fiance. Their handling of this final ordeal will demonstrate whether they are capable of honoring the sanctity of marriage in the spirit of the original big fat obnoxious fiance and founder of the Church of England, King Henry VIII. |
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An Evening with Reverend Dr. Velma Smith - preacher, revivalist, retreat organizer, counselor, lyricist, and poet. She is the President and Founder of the Daughters of the Way Mission Outreach Ministry, Inc. Dr. Smith serves as a columnist and editor for Behind the Scenes Magazine, Buffalo, New York. Wednesday April 20 - 5:30 Potluck dinner - 6:30 Service. Sojourners/Call to Renewal Office, 2401 15th St. NW. Some street parking is available. For more information, call (202) 328-8842. |
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Sojourners in the news
Meet the Press: Faith in America
Preacher gives Democrats faith for future
Faith that's of the people, by the people, for the people
Sojourners' truth, Jim Wallis' altared state
Wedge politics are alive and well
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Readers write
Karen Davison of Shepherdstown, West Virginia, writes: I have to strongly disagree with Jim Wallis' assessment of the Terri Schiavo situation ["The pope, Terri Schiavo, and moral consistency," SojoMail 4/6/2005]. This poor woman was caught halfway between life and death for fifteen years, unable to go either way. Her expenses were paid by Medicaid and the proceeds of a medical malpractice lawsuit, both of which the Bush Administration would like to see severely curtailed. During this time, her poor parents were not allowed to grieve her loss and futile hope was cruelly kept alive. I have worked in hospitals for many years and can testify from personal observation that there are things a lot worse than dying, and living on in a persistent vegetative state is one of them. One of the television news shows showed a picture of an MRI scan of Ms. Schiavo's brain. For about an inch and a quarter of the space between the inside of her skull and the beginning of her remaining brain, there was nothing but blank white space. This is the area of the brain that contains all understanding, memory, and feeling. Obviously, there was no chance of any improvement in her condition, no matter how much therapy had been given. Terri is now finally free and whole again in Heaven. The only good thing about this pathetic situation is that millions of people have now made their medical wishes known to their friends and family members who might be faced with such a heartbreaking decision. ---------- Grace Darcy writes from Carmel Valley, California This very afternoon, I had been told I was all wrong for thinking that Terri Schiavo had the right to live, and that I thought her husband was a murderer. Oh, well, perhaps I got carried away about the husband (I don't think so), but I remain convinced that Terri might one day have awakened from her deep sleep. In a spiritual way, she has, but perhaps she still had something to give to this jaded world we live in. Thank Mr. Wallis for his candor and straightforwardness. ---------- Karen Rode writes from Tucson, Arizona: Jim Wallis wrote, "Terri Schiavo was severely mentally disabled but was not dying, and we don't decide to end the lives of many similarly disabled people, even children, whose mental capacities greatly diminish their quality of life." As an RN in pediatric intensive care for almost 30 years I disagree with this statement. Families make the decision to withdraw medical treatment, or not initiate further medical treatment many times a day all over this country. I have also seen families, like the Schindlers, who are in total denial of the medical reality, and continue to insist that their child is responding to them, when that is simply not physiologically possible. They continue to persist in demanding that "everything" be done when they have no concept of how extensive "everything" is, or that it is only creating more suffering and prolonging the dying process. I have the utmost respect for families who are able to see beyond their own pain and make these difficult decisions to withdraw medical treatment and support in terms of what is best for their child, rather than what is best for them. But I support the families' decisions in either case because it is a personal and individual decision. ---------- David Federman writes from Narberth, Pennsylvania: You say "the morally safer course is always to err on the side of life," but err it is if that life is one of complete limbo and extinguished consciousness. For me, the safer course is always to err on the side of compassion, to say that there is a level below which life is no longer meaningful by any definition of the word. When my mother was dying of lung cancer 10 years ago, I asked one of her hospice care providers if they believed in God. She told me the job has made a believer of her. "I remember the day I realized there was a higher power," she told me. A family had gathered to say their last goodbyes to their mother who was in a coma. Each took their turn urging the mother to depart for Heaven. Then the youngest daughter flung herself on her mother's body and begged her not to leave. She was sobbing uncontrollably. Suddenly the mother awoke, sat up in bed and said to her daughter, "Helen, shut the hell up," and died. The family went from stunned silence to laughter. Even the daughter joined in. "It's then that I knew there was a God," the hospice worker told me. If Terry Schiavo could speak, I think she'd have told her parents to shut the hell up and let go. ---------- The Very Reverend Donald W. Krickbaum writes from Harpers Ferry, West Virginia: I pray for all of us as we struggle with these life and death issues. I pray that the politicians stay out of it and not to try to legislate when or how we can die. I pray that we give thanks for the miracles of modern medicine and those who bring us healing in the time of crisis, but I, also, pray that we accept the limitations and pitfalls of modern medical practice. Above all, I pray that we trust God, believe the Gospel, and live our lives in the light, hope, and power of the Resurrection. Let us praise God for the gift of new life. That is the Christian message of Easter and the core of our faith. ---------- Rev. Dorothy P. Slater, Falls Village, Connecticut: The outpouring of affection toward John Paul II may indeed be a result of his consistency in what is called the "culture of life." However, Jim Wallis neglects to mention that because John Paul consistently refused to even consider the use of condoms, not only to prevent unwanted pregnancies amongst the poor women of the third world but also against the spread of AIDS, he must be held responsible for condemning women in many parts of the world to a "culture of death." I applaud the pope for his stands on the issues of peace and justice although for all of his moral authority, he didn't have much luck with President Bush. However, as a Christian minister who, because of my gender would never have donned a clerical robe in the Catholic Church that John Paul led, I feel it also must be said that consistency for the sake of dogmatism is not always to be heralded. ---------- Boomerang is an open forum for all kinds of views that do not necessarily represent those of Sojourners. Want to make your voice heard? Include your name, hometown, and state/province/country in a concise e-mail to: boomerang@sojo.net. We reserve the right to edit for length and clarity. |
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