Boundaries: A Gentle Death Between Religion and Secularism

In Marseille, there were procedures in place for obtaining hemlock by those who made a justified request. The ancient Stoic philosophers regarded the choice of one’s own death as an act of rational freedom. The physician, however, was excluded: the Hippocratic Oath explicitly forbade the administration of a lethal drug upon request. Thomas More in Utopia (1516) imagines a state in which priests advise the terminally ill to take their own lives, and Francis Bacon in 1605 introduced the term euthanasia to describe the doctor’s duty to ensure a peaceful death. But it was not until 1906 that a parliament addressed the issue for the first time.

We are in Ohio, where Anna Hall’s daughter, following her mother’s death after months of suffering, is campaigning to legalise assisted dying. The bill is not passed. Nor did it pass in Iowa the following year. Meanwhile, in London, Lord Ponsonby tabled a bill in the House of Lords, which was also rejected by 35 votes to 14. It was precisely at this time that the court physician Bertrand Dawson administered a lethal dose of morphine and cocaine to King George V, who was on his deathbed. Dawson’s diary was not revealed until 1986. And it was precisely to prevent such things from happening in secret that other states began to legislate.

Australia, Oregon, the Netherlands, Belgium. In Italia, it is a topic of debate. The Global North and South have different approaches, and religion obviously plays a part. If one looks into the matter, one finds that, on the whole, it is only amongst Reformed Christians and Jews that more or less concrete forms of openness exist. Muslims and Orthodox Christians reject this practice. Yet, even in countries where these faiths are dominant, some subtle nuances are beginning to emerge. A prime example of how religion is not a constraint is Switzerland, a country divided between Catholics and Protestants. As is well known, Catholics reject suicide; Protestants are more flexible in their tolerance of it. Yet, throughout Switzerland, in cantons – whether Catholic or Protestant – assisted suicide is permitted.

The issue is as old as humanity itself. Today, as in the past, ethical and moral considerations come into play, touching on various aspects: to whom does human life belong? Is there a point at which human dignity is overwhelmed by pain and illness? How far can palliative care go?

These are the topics covered in the ninth episode of Confini, the programme from Sole 24 Ore TV and NextMed, broadcast every Thursday on channel 63 of digital terrestrial television. Joining the presenter Simone Spetia and Claudio Antonelli, deputy editor of 24Ore NextMed, to discuss these issues are Islamic legal scholar Fabio Valerini, Professor Marsilia D’Amico, a constitutional law expert at the University of Milan and an expert in bioethics, and Professor Andrea Manazza, an oncologist and palliative care specialist, and a member of the Higher Council for Bioethics. A report by Giampaolo Musumeci explains what end-of-life care means in the Islamic world. Paolo Di Carlo interviews Athenagoras, Bishop of Terme and Auxiliary Bishop of the Holy Orthodox Archdiocese of Italia, the rabbi of Rome’s Jewish community, Riccardo di Segni and Ernesto Streit, head of the Exit association for Italian-speaking Switzerland.