A  MESSAGE  FOR  "DR. DEATH"


The following article appeared in THE LUTHERAN WITNESS (published by the
  Lutheran Church - Missouri Synod) for February 1993 (p.18)
With the good Dr. Kevorkian in the news lately, I thought I should upload
  this Christian perspective on euthanasia...
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Editor's note:  Beth Anna Mekota is totally paralyzed and cannot move her
                legs, arms, or hands.  She uses her mouth, employing the
                "sip and blow" method, to write with her computer.
Picture caption:  The author, a member of Bethlehem Lutheran Church, Crete,
                  Neb., taught music at Concordia College, Ann Arbor, Mich.,
                  prior to contracting M.S.
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                        A  MESSAGE  FOR  "DR. DEATH"
                             by Beth Anna Mekota

     Whenever I read about yet another person committing suicide with the
help of Dr. Jack Kevorkian--he's the Michigan physician dubbed "Dr. Death"
by the newspapers--I don't know whether to feel sorrier for the doctor or
the patient.
     Dr. Kevorkian invented what he calls a "suicide machine," and he's
always ready to help his patients kill themselves.
     I can especially relate to one of his "patients," a woman who had
multiple sclerosis for 12 years.  I've had that same disease for more than
40 years and live in a nursing home.
     This woman was confined to a wheelchair and had lost her eyesight, a
real loss because she had loved to read and do handicrafts.  With multiple
sclerosis, the first time you decide not to do something, that is the last
time you do it.  Once you stop, that's it.
     "How terrible!  No wonder she wanted to commit suicide!" my friend
Betty remarked when I told her about this woman.  "But surely there was
something she would have enjoyed doing.  Listening to music or talking with
people--there must have been something!"
     What she really needed was a friend and counselor.  With someone to
advise her and talk to her every day, I can't help but feel she would have
avoided all thought of ending her life.  Just talking to a friend each day
gives new strength for the day.  (And Talking Books, available free through
local or state libraries, would have let her "read" to her heart's
content.)
     Betty pointed out that this woman also had needed someone to tell her
about Christ's sacrifice on the cross for her sake, and that suicide is not
God's plan for her.  She had a wonderful gift, and killing herself was not
a part of that gift.  "God will let her know when He is calling her home,"
Betty said.
     Betty was right.  We never should try to meddle in God's plans.  Dr.
Kevorkian ought never try to improve on what God has done.  He should learn
how to advise people constructively, instead of giving them instructions on
how to kill themselves.
     In spite of living in a nursing home with multiple sclerosis, I am
quite content with a number of "toys"--a computer through which I can write
letters to my friends, a TV, a VCR, a radio, a cassette player, and various
magazines.  Truly, "my cup runneth over."
     I thank God every day for my parents, my brother, and my happy life.
That plus His daily care is all I need.  Suicide?  The thought never enters
my mind.
     Poor Dr. Kevorkian!  He needs counseling as much as that sad suicide.

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