Life is Valuable in Every Condition

Dear Friends and Family,

I hope this email finds doing well, keeping calm and carrying on in spite of the major election headlines of the day. With the presidential elections consuming much of our attention these days, it is very easy to over look some of the less obvious but very important proposals that will appear on the ballot in Colorado during this election cycle and could be coming to your state in the near future.

Before you read any further, I’d like to say that I do not represent any political party, political organization, church, Christian ministry, medical organization, hospital or health plan. This is solely my view on the issue.

I’m writing to bring Proposition 106, also known as The Colorado End of Life Options Act, to your attention. A “yes” vote on Proposition 106 means you support making assisted death legal among patients with a terminal illness who receive a prognosis of death within six months. In other words it would become legal for a patient who has been diagnosed with a terminal illness and is not expected to live beyond 6 months to request that their physician to write a prescription for a medication that would assist them in taking their own life. The idea is that a terminal patient should have the right to make a choice to end their life rather than continue in the pain and suffering related to their illness, which could last several months before they pass away naturally.

For anyone who has cared for a loved one with a terminal illness you understand the hurt and pain of watching your loved one suffer. It may seem that a loved one should be allowed to end their suffering sooner rather than later. They should be allowed to put and end to their suffering by means of a prescription from a physician, which would result in a “peaceful” death.

The End of Life Options Act is fraught with many dangers one ought to consider seriously, safety being a major factor. The medication could be handled carelessly in the home and end up being consumed by a child or other person that it was not intended for, thus ending the life of an unintended victim. Caregivers could quite possibly dispose of the medication incorrectly thereby polluting our soil and water system resulting in illness, if not death. If the medication is prescribed but not used by the patient, it could be stolen and used by some other person with malicious intent to end the life of an otherwise healthy human being.

I also encourage you to consider Proposition 106 from a biblical perspective. One of the Ten Commandments reads as follows,

“You shall not murder”. (Exodus 20:13 NKJV)
Murder means intentionally ending a person’s life. Proposition 106 would make it justifiable for a patient with a terminal illness to commit “self murder”. The physician who writes such a prescription for a terminally ill patient will also be guilty of murder before God. Perhaps in a human court of law, this could be

considered an act of murder-suicide between two parties. The End of Life Options Act flies in the face of a direct and clear commandment of God. If Proposition 106 passes Coloradoans will in essence be guilty of calling what God deems as evil good and good evil. According to the Bible there awaits punishment for those who are in opposition to the truth of God’s Word either directly or indirectly.

What sorrow for those who say that evil is good and good is evil, that dark is light and light is dark, that bitter is sweet and sweet is bitter. What sorrow for those who are wise in their own eyes and think themselves so clever. … Therefore, just as fire licks up stubble and dry grass shrivels in the flame, so their roots will rot and their flowers wither. For they have rejected the law of the LORD of Heaven’s Armies; they have despised the word of the Holy One of Israel. (Isa 5:20-21, 24 NLT)

Watching a loved one go through a terminal illness or even facing a terminal illness in one’s self is very difficult to bear. On the surface Proposition 106 may seem to make sense under those circumstances, but I urge you to prayerfully consider the ramifications if this or similar measures pass either now or in the future.

Rather than supporting physician-assisted suicide as an option for the terminally ill, as Christians facing hardships including illness, shouldn’t we use the opportunity to hold on to God’s promise in Hebrews 4:16?

Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need. (Heb 4:16 NKJV)

Ballots will soon be arriving in the mail. Whether you live in Colorado or not, I encourage you to read them carefully and thoughtfully. Then vote prayerfully. Our very lives may depend on the outcome.

Here is a link for more information on Proposition 106 in Colorado as well as other ballot proposals in the 50 states. https://ballotpedia.org/ColoradoEnd_of_Life_Options_Act,%22_Proposition_1 06_(2016).

This link below is a copy of how Proposition 106 will read on the Colorado ballot.

http://www.arapahoevotes.com/wp- content/uploads/2016/06/2016SampleBallot.pdf 

Yours truly,
Ifeoma Eleazu, MD
A bondservant of our Lord Jesus Christ and a concerned citizen.