Madrid, Spain, Oct 10, 2007 / 09:35 am
The secretary general and spokesman of the Bishops’ Conference of Spain, Father Juan Antonio Martinez Camino, rejected a proposal by the Ministry of Health to create a Bioethics Committee on euthanasia.
“Euthanasia is one of the temptations of the contemporary totalitarian states,” Father Martinez said. “The Church’s position is not extreme. The Church is against making the sick and the dying suffer, against treatment that prolongs suffering for the patient and the family. That is unethical,” he told the Cope Radio network.
“But neither can death be hastened,” Father Martinez continued. “It should not be absurdly slowed down nor accelerated. To do so would be to introduce insecurity into the health care system since all human life is of equal value, even though it may be diminished in its physical characteristics,” he added.
The proposal to form a committee was confirmed last Thursday by the Minister of Health and Consumption, Bernat Soria. The committee would handle cases of patients with untreatable illnesses or who resist treatment.