ing the past 25 years have showna steady increase in the number of people of all ages andreligious affiliations who support legalizingeuthanasia/PAS. This popular support has been generated notby ethical arguments but by emotional reactions to thehorrifying ways some people are dying. McKhann's experienceof his own father's slow death, prolonged by hopeless,cure-oriented treatments, prompted him to write hisbook.(McCuen pg. 78) To counter the movement to legalize euthanasia/PAS, weneed to offer a vision of dying well and provide betterend-of-life care. Witness is more compelling than argument.Through the ways we live our lives, take care of our health,face our limits, let go of control, bear suffering, relateto others, make room for the weak and unsuccessful, and carefor the sick, the elderly and the dying, we can be crediblewitnesses to our beliefs. We must counter the kinds ofstories of poor end-of-life care that McKhann tells withstories of dying well. For example, Cardinal Joseph Bernardin's courageousdeath touched the hearts of many. When he spoke aboutsuffering, fear, pain and humiliation, he spoke out of hisown experience. He showed that we can exercise freedom notjust by being in control but also by consenting to ourlimits and surrendering to what is beyond human control. Hejoined his suffering with the paschal mystery of Jesus andtrusted in the goodness of God. In addition to personal virtue, we also need communalvirtue. Our communal life must witness to those fundamentalreligious and moral convictions that nurture a vision oflife that includes death as an inevitable outcome. Avirtuous community provides the structures and develops theskills that enable us to provide companionship, sympathy andsupport in the time of trial. Already a movement is underway to improve end-of-life care by educating health-careproviders to respond better to the needs of dying patients,by creating new care settings or improving existing ones, byseekin...
