A Vatican bioethics official has condemned the assisted suicide of Brittany Maynard, who decided on Saturday to “die with dignity” after she was diagnosed as terminal earlier this year with an aggressive brain tumor.
“Brittany Maynard’s gesture is in itself to be condemned, but what happened in her conscience is not for us to know,” Ignacio Carrasco de Paula, president of the Pontifical Academy for Life, told ANSA news agency on Tuesday.
Maynard, 29, sparked a national debate, becoming the face of the right-to-die movement after she publicly declared her plans to die this month.
“Society does not want to shoulder the cost of disease, and this risks becoming the solution,” Mr. Carrasco de Paula continued. “This woman [took her own life] thinking she would die with dignity, but this is the error: Suicide is not a good thing. It is a bad thing, because it is saying no to life and to everything it means with respect to our mission in the world and towards those around us.”
• Jessica Chasmar can be reached at jchasmar@washingtontimes.com.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.