The Right to Die? Caring Alternatives to Euthanasia

Mark Blocher, 1999, The Right to Die? Caring Alternatives to Euthanasia, Chicago: Moody Press

Mark B. Blocher is Director for the Center for Biblical Ethics. There are a few approaches to bioethics. In 1982 psychologist Carol Gilligan suggests that women and men approaches moral issues differently. This is taken up by feminist thinking ( I do not mean it in a negative sense). Women are more emphatic and intuitive which Gilligan call the 'ethic of care.' Men on the other other hand, then to follow rules and principles which was named 'ethic of right and justice.' However, these approaches are not strictly gender restrictive.

Blocher took on the ethic of care in relationship to his work on the dying. However, being a Baptist pastor and bioethicist, he wants to offer more than just what the "death with dignity" movement is offering. "Killing is not caring," he writes,"It may look compassion...even merciful but it is not." In the ethic of care, he finds that he can offer more.

Blocher suggests that Christians must be proactive in providing alternatives to assisted suicide and euthanasia while offering at least three promises to the terminally ill:

1. To the best of our ability, we will not allow you to die in pain

2. We will not allow you to be alone

3. You will not be a burden to anyone

Caring for the dying need commitment, sacrifice, and personal involvement.

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