By Christina Leslie | Staff Writer

Two pro-life experts issued a call to action for faithful Catholics on the topic of physician-assisted suicide during a pair of workshops sponsored by the Respect Life Ministry of the diocesan Department of Pastoral Care. Presenters Jennifer Ruggiero, director of the Office of Respect for Life in the Diocese of Metuchen and Kathleen Boozang, a professor and founder of Seton Hall Law School’s health law program, detailed the dangers of actively seeking to end a patient’s life and the “aid in dying” legislation currently being considered in the New Jersey State Legislature.

“Doctor-prescribed suicide is not death with dignity, it is death with efficiency,” stated Ruggiero in her Oct. 7 presentation held in St. Joan of Arc Church, Marlton. “Our value and meaning as persons is not a function of our health, nor is it a function of our ability to do productive things. Simply being human is what gives us dignity.”

Ruggiero discussed Catholic teachings on topics such as advance directives for healthcare, organ donation, proportionate and disproportionate care and death with dignity.

Human responsibility for life is one of stewardship, not ownership, and respect for human life is a fundamental commitment of the Catholic Church, Ruggiero reminded the audience. She declared, “It is dangerous for doctors, for it destroys doctor-patient trust. It is dangerous for families, because it causes dissension and feelings of anger, sadness and guilt. It is dangerous for the patient, for it turns the right-to-die into a duty to die. And it is dangerous for society, for it puts us on a slippery slope.”

The medical, legal and moral concerns of the “Aid in Dying for the Terminally Ill Act” (A2270/S382) were the topic of the Oct. 9 workshop held in St. Gregory the Great Church, Hamilton Square. The legislation would allow a New Jersey resident with a terminal disease to request a lethal injection to actively end their own life.

Boozang advocated Catholics involve themselves in the discussion on the legislation, to protect both the terminally ill and the doctors who treat them. “As a person of faith, we should make secular arguments on subjects of potential harm to society,” she said, “and we should insulate physicians from being required to take place in any actions that threaten society’s trust in them.”

Both speakers advocated prayer, letter writing, phone calls, meetings with legislators and taking action via the New Jersey Catholic Conference website to stop the passing of this legislation which advocates murder. 

 “State-sanctioned suicide is an act of abandonment, not love,” Ruggiero noted. “Sick and dying people need top-notch care, good pain and love and support.”

Boozang echoed, “We should concentrate our resources and energy on improving the end of life.”