Issues: Euthanasia

The Hospice Movement

A hospice is a house or home dedicated to the care of terminally ill patients. The first hospice was set up by Christian nuns in 1900 in Ireland . There are about 100 hospices in the UK . Many of them have a Christian basis and many Christians believe they are an alternative to euthanasia.

Hospices are not funded by the Government. They are paid for by fundraising, donations and money left in wills.

There are not enough hospices to meet the demand for beds.

The Aim of Hospices

The purpose of hospices is to care for and support patients and their family and friends.

There are 3 main aims of hospice care:

1. To relieve pain. Today it is thought it is not necessary for terminally ill patients to die in pain. Hospices specialize in pain control. Hospice staff believe all pain, however severe can be brought under control.
2. To help patients, friends and relatives face up to death. Although many hospices are Christian foundations, no attempt is made to persuade patients to become Christians. Opportunities are given to the patients and to family members to discuss death and dying.
3. To care for the emotional needs of friends and family. Hospices help families cope with bereavement before, during and after the death of their relative.

The hospice movement believes that the patient is still living and should be encouraged to have a life while they are dying. In a hospital, the patient wouldn't be given the personal care he/she would receive in a hospice. In a hospice, hair dressers come in, patients can have manicures. They are encouraged to get dressed and get up rather than stay in bed. The first time a patient may only stay for a couple of weeks to give their carers a rest or to sort out the correct pain relief. As the illness progresses, he/she might stay for longer. If they wish to die at home, nurses attached to the hospice can often support patients at home.

Many who do not support euthanasia believe that hospices allow people to die with dignity. If the pain is kept under control the individual can live well up to the moment they die. Many Christians support the hospice movement and believe that if there were enough spaces available for all who wished to go there, that euthanasia would not be needed.

Dame Cicely Saunders, who set up St. Christopher's Hospice in 1967 said:

'Anything which says to the ill that they are a burden to their family and that they are better off dead is unacceptable. What sort of society could let its old folk die because they are in the way?'

She believed that hospices mean euthanasia is unnecessary.