Euthanasia

• What do you think about pulling the plug or mercy killing?

• Is it right to pull the plug on a person who is brain dead, but is kept alive by the machine?

• Is it right or wrong to pull the plug on a person who is really sick and is suffering but will never become better again?

• If a person is brain dead and is kept alive by a machine, is their soul already separated from their body because they are artificially alive by the machine?

I have requested Dr. Anthony Van Grouw, a medical doctor and member of the Ebenezer Netherlands Reformed Congregation in Franklin Lakes, New Jersey, to address these questions. His applicable response, for which we cordially thank him, is as follows:

It is no mere coincidence that Christ is referred to in the Scriptures as the Head of His Church and that believers are considered members of His body. Without this divine Head, there would be no living body. So, in nature, without a “head” or brain, the body has no life. Yes, bodily functions such as the rhythmic contractions of the heart can be supported within the proper scientific milieu of fluids — even outside the body within a laboratory container. But this can hardly be called life, which is the sum total of our existence orchestrated through the center of control, namely our brain. As Christ, the center of the Church body, is Life, so must our spirit (soul) live and reside within our brain.

Bodily functions such as the rhythmic contractions of the heart can be supported within the proper scientific milieu of fluids—even outside the body within a laboratory container. But this can hardly be called life, which is the sum total of our existence orchestrated through the center of control, namely our brain.

A group of physicians must declare a person “brain dead” on the basis of multiple electrical activity tracings (EEGs) of the brain done over a specified period of time so as to minimize the chance of error. If all of these tests show a flat line, i.e. there is no evidence of electrical activity within the brain, then it is justified to remove the life support (not life-giving) machine from this person. The physician is not actually killing this patient since he is already dead and his spirit (soul) has left the body. Many people expected Karen Quinlan, who lay in a coma for several years being maintained by a respirator, to die when her respirator was removed. (These respirators lend support to the functions of the body’s various organs, but they do not give life in and of themselves.) And yet Karen continued to live two years after the respirator had been removed! She had not been completely brain dead, and it was not yet her time to die even though man had “pulled the plug.”

We must never permit killing of one man by another even under the disguise of mercy. If a person is terminally ill and not expected to recover, we mortals can show mercy by making him comfortable so that he is no longer suffering from pain. We also can show mercy by just being at his side — showing him our love and continued human support in the face of death. Only Cod Himself has appointed the time when each man shall die. Euthanasia (mercy-killing) can never be condoned. There are no set rules for the physician who is called upon to treat the terminally ill patient. The administration of intravenous fluids makes a patient more comfortable during his dying hours and is, therefore, justified. We should rely upon the physician to choose whether or not more sophisticated forms of treatment are justified in the care of the terminally ill. We are thereby using the means as we are so commanded by scripture. We can only trust that the physician is doing his best and that he, himself, remains subject to that Great Physician, the only Creator and Sustainer of all life.

Forward questions intended for this department to: Rev. J.R. Beeke, 55 Robin Hood Way, Wayne, NJ 07470. Questions will be published anonymously.

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