Yesterday in my sermon on the sixth commandment "You Shall Not Murder" I made reference to euthanasia as one of the issues that flows naturally from that command. Dr. Albert Mohler has raised some good questions about the use of living wills and how they might open the door to 'mercy killings.' Click on this link for more information:
Sign Your Way to a "Good Death?" -- The Soft Slide to Euthanasia
Related to this issue is what to do when someone suffers a major brain injury or has a profound cognitive disability. Research is showing that sometimes people thought to be in a vegetative state are fully aware of their surroundings yet unable to respond. I mentioned the case of a person thought to be brain dead yet an EEG revealed brain activity in response to the command to imagine themselves playing tennis. To read more click on the link below:
Amazing Awakenings -- Will the Nation's Conscience be Awakened Too?
This topic strikes close to home for me -- three years ago my father was in the hospital recovering from a stroke following open-heart surgery. Initially my mother was told that he suffered a major stroke and might never recover consciousness. While he was in a cardiac rehab unit he began to show signs of recovery -- occasionally moving a hand or a finger, turning toward our voice, etc. One day my mother and I showed up at the hospital only to see my dad carrying on a conversation in his mind -- we knew he was trying to speak because his lips were forming syllables and words! He couldn't speak due to a tracheotomy in his throat but we were certain that he was trying to speak. Outwardly things did not look good but we did not give up hope. Three months after surgery he came home from the hospital.
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