Boundaries: A Gentle Death Between Religion and Secularism

In Marseille, there were procedures in place for obtaining hemlock by anyone who submitted a reasoned 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) envisions a state in which priests advise voluntary death to the terminally ill, and Francis Bacon in 1605 introduced the term euthanasia to describe the doctor’s duty to ease the agony. 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 euthanasia. The bill is not passed. Nor does 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 the dying King George V. 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 introduce legislation.

Australia, Oregon, the Netherlands, Belgium. In Italia, this 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 discovers that, on the whole, it is only amongst Reformed Christians and Jews that there are more or less concrete forms of openness. 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 both Catholic and Protestant cantons, 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 today’s episode of Confini, the programme produced by Sole 24 Ore TV and NextMed, airing this evening at 9.00 pm, as it does every Thursday, on channel 63 of digital terrestrial television. Joining the presenter Simone Spetia and Claudio Antonelli, deputy editor of 24Ore NextMed, in the discussion were the Islamic legal scholar Fabio Valerini, Professor Irene Pellizzone, associate professor of Constitutional Law at the University of Milan and a member of Marco Cappato’s defence team, 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, 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.