The Irish Bishops' Conference will mark Sunday, October 13th, as a "Day for Life", this time focusing on the issue of euthanasia. Yesterday it issued a new booklet and a pastoral letter, " Living with Dying" .
The bishops' statements acknowledge that palliative care is about ensuring the "life and dignity of the sick person is respected and supported until death comes naturally." And they acknowledge the importance of pain management even when that may shorten life.
But, in the end, euthanasia, the booklet argues, is morally unacceptable, not only because it "would mean the introduction of a qualitative judgment on what is determined to be a worthwhile life or existence," but also because it "would have an enormous effect on the ethos of healthcare provision."
It makes clear: "The Catholic Church absolutely rejects euthanasia as a response to chronic or serious illness."
Absolutely? Well, not quite. Unless, that is, one is prepared to accept that old bugbear of the abortion referendums, "the Principle of Double Effect" (PDE).
Dealing with pain management, the pastoral letter acknowledges that in some cases "while the patient's quality of life is improved he or she may die a little sooner due to...side-effects. Under the traditional moral Principle of Double Effect, such drug treatment is perfectly legitimate from a moral point of view, provided that there is no intention to end the life of the person who is dying; and the reduction in the patient's length of life is not out of proportion to the pain-relief he or she experiences."
But to those who do not accept this principle, the knowing administration of life-shortening drugs is tantamount to killing and may form part of the class of acts that they define as euthanasia .
For many civilised people such acts, so defined, are humane and moral. In two of Ireland's fellow member-states of the EU, Belgium and the Netherlands, both civilised countries, they are legal (although, unlike Ireland, the protection of the patient is enhanced by the requirement for a second doctor's consent).
In Britain a survey of doctors in 1998 found 15 per cent willing to admit they had assisted a patient to die. In Ireland, sanctioned by PDE, the practice is unlikely to be any different. That should not be a cause of worry. But in Ireland a spade is not called a spade. It is surely time the issue was faced squarely.