THE Church of England has joined one of Britain’s royal medical colleges in calling for legal euthanasia of seriously disabled newborn babies.
Church leaders want doctors to be given the right to withhold treatment from seriously disabled newborn babies in exceptional circumstances.
Their call, overriding the presumption that life should be preserved at any cost, follows that of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecology, revealed in The Sunday Times last week.
The church’s position was laid out in a submission to an independent inquiry, due to publish its report this week, into the ethical concerns surrounding the treatment of severely premature babies.
In the submission Tom Butler, Bishop of Southwark, states: “It may in some circumstances be right to choose to withhold or withdraw treatment, knowing it will possibly, probably, or even certainly result in death.” The church’s submission does not say which medical conditions might justify the decision to allow babies to die. It argues that there are “strong proportionate reasons” for “overriding the presupposition that life should be maintained”.
It says it would support the withdrawal of treatment only if all reasonable alternatives had been considered, “so that the possible lethal act would only be performed with manifest reluctance”.
Church leaders want doctors to be given the right to withhold treatment from seriously disabled newborn babies in exceptional circumstances.
Their call, overriding the presumption that life should be preserved at any cost, follows that of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecology, revealed in The Sunday Times last week.
The church’s position was laid out in a submission to an independent inquiry, due to publish its report this week, into the ethical concerns surrounding the treatment of severely premature babies.
In the submission Tom Butler, Bishop of Southwark, states: “It may in some circumstances be right to choose to withhold or withdraw treatment, knowing it will possibly, probably, or even certainly result in death.” The church’s submission does not say which medical conditions might justify the decision to allow babies to die. It argues that there are “strong proportionate reasons” for “overriding the presupposition that life should be maintained”.
It says it would support the withdrawal of treatment only if all reasonable alternatives had been considered, “so that the possible lethal act would only be performed with manifest reluctance”.
I find the CofE's moral stance increasingly alarming, this seems to go beyond what we as Catholics would find acceptable: that we should not officiously seek to keep alive person whose medical condition would enevitable end in death. The idea that a doctor should become a killer fills me with horror.
On Life issues we seem to have nothing in common with men like Butler, despite his attempts to play at celebrating Catholic style liturgy, every public statement identifies him as one of the leaders of liberalism within Anglicanism, a true son of "Old Mother Damnable".
Since posting this piece there have been several claims that Butler actually meant that, we not seek to officiously keep alive a child who was likely to die, however he does talk about, the "withdrawal of treatment". All that he has said seems to play into the hands of euthanasiaists. I would love to be convinced that the initial press reaction was mistaken.
5 comments:
"Church leaders want doctors to be given the right to withhold treatment from seriously disabled newborn babies in exceptional circumstances."
In other words, from babies who are not dying. If the General Synod itself dares to accept this evil opinion, that will, I think, be conclusive proof to any Christian that the C of E is not and never was part of the Church of Jesus Christ, and that it will be time to come out of her and be ye separate.
Oh, Henry VIII! What have you done?
I'm sure that we can rely on our bishops to repudiate this stance when they meet the protestant bishops at their joint get-together this week in Leeds. I await with bated breath the press release our bishops will make.
I am sure you are right Augustinus, I wouldn't like to be their shoes, when our Bishop's set out to correct error and teach the truth.
They are according to the last Nuncio, the best Episcopal Conference in the world.
Tremble, Oh ye enemies of Truth!
Joe, o - unfortuately, as we both suspect, the subject will probably not even get mentioned. Sad days for the Church.
I wonder of the current Nuncio shares the same view as his predecessor.
The Church of England is England and this is how their mind works.Anybody who cannot look after themself is in the way and must be got rid of.It is only a matter of time before all benefit claimants will be refused treatment.The billions of pounds unclaimed could be used usefully to keep helpless humans alive
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