RUSSIA
20
December 2004
A New Discussion In Russia: Is Euthanasia Acceptable?
RIA Novosti reports:
A crime committed in Rostov-on-Don has become arguably
the most widely debated criminal case of recent times in Russia.
Two minors, Marta Shkermanova and Kristina Patrina, killed their
paralyzed neighbor Natalia Barannikova. It was apparently a tortuous
procedure. The girls initially tried to insert an empty needle
into Natalia's vein to block the flow of blood with an air bubble.
After failing to do so, they started strangling the ailing woman
with a rope and finally succeeded.
The amazing point about the case is that the murder was committed
with the mutual consent of the under-aged killers and their victim.
After a car accident, Natalia suffered from terrible pain, lost
interest in life and asked Marta, her 14-year-old sick-nurse,
to help her die. The girl, in turn, asked her friend, 16-year-old
Kristina, to assist her in carrying out the ailing woman's wish.
Together, they committed an act that later was declared the first
registered case of euthanasia in Russia.
Initially, the judges in Rostov were flabbergasted. The Russian
legal system does not recognize the notion of "mercy-killing."
Moreover, the 1993 law On Health Care of Russian Citizens strictly
prohibits the practice of euthanasia in Russia. To the judges'
relief, investigators discovered an important detail that allowed
them to clarify the circumstances and transform the entire procedure
into a traditional crime case: Natalia Barannikova paid the girls
to kill her. She let them have all her jewelry. After the murder,
the girls pawned 11 pieces of jewelry for 4,750 rubles and thereby
forfeited their status as "mercy-killers."
The whole story turned into a banal case. Judges could now easily
determine the motive "to enter a conspiracy to kill a disabled
person." Such was the verdict that sent Marta and Kristina
to a juvenile correctional facility for four and six years respectively.
Unexpectedly, the case caused an explosion of public discussion
about euthanasia in Russia. The country suddenly remembered thousands
of terminally ill persons who suffer unbearable pain, and openly
voiced an opinion that earlier was a taboo: these people can be
helped, as we can bring an end to their suffering by granting
their death wishes.
According to social surveys conducted by TV Channel One and various
Moscow newspapers, more than 80% of Russians support the legalization
of euthanasia. "If one of these poor souls approached me
with such a request, I would definitely do it," was a common
response. The State Duma is literally inundated with letters from
voters appealing to expedite the study of foreign legislation
to legalize "mercy-killing" in Russia. Such legislation
exists in the Netherlands, Belgium, Switzerland, and in the American
state of Oregon.
Russian sociologists and doctors believe that the interest in
this phenomenon reflects a clash of various psychological patterns
dominating the public mind at present. Above all, this is anxiety
caused by the merciless and rapid destruction of the old Soviet
lifestyle to which older generations were accustomed.
"Euthanasia became the focus of discussion when people started
to feel vulnerable and defenseless," says Tatyana Dmitrieva,
a member of the Russian Academy of Sciences and director of the
Moscow Scientific Center of Social and Criminal Psychiatry. "Many
Russians think, 'I am afraid of falling ill and becoming a burden
for my children,' or 'I fear that I will become a lonely person
and nobody will care about me.' In other words, the growing interest
in euthanasia reflects a fear of becoming helpless."
Russians are also attracted to the notion of euthanasia because
Russian society lacks such an important element of any developed
society as "the culture of death." People simply do
not know how to part with this life in a dignified and civilized
manner. Hospices, or special hospitals for the terminally ill,
which have long existed in the West but appeared in Moscow, Rostov-on-Don
and some other Russian cities only a year or two ago, serve to
fill this gap.
Curiously, the emergence of the first hospices in Russia was met
with stiff resistance. The philosophy of natural dying "with
a smiling face" and looking at relatives and medical personnel
collided with artificially optimistic ideology of the Soviet regime.
"Soviet medicine was always considered victorious,"
says chief physician of the First Moscow Hospice Vera Millionshchikova.
"In the Soviet Union we, the doctors, were supposed to be
able to defeat any disease. In contrast, a hospice is, in a way,
a means of assistance after recognizing a defeat. Our patients
remained on the battlefield of life and they have the right to
part with us with dignity..."
One of the precepts of the Moscow hospice, written in its Charter
somewhat contradicts the notion of euthanasia, "You should
not expedite the process of dying." This formula reflects
the current, mainly negative attitude of Russian medicine to the
legalization of "mercy-killing." According to many prominent
medical scientists, the attitude "it is easier to end life
than to cure the disease" demoralizes doctors. Professional
medics believe that euthanasia can be legally applied in certain,
strictly determined cases. However, it is unacceptable as a national
system.
The attitude of Russian Orthodox Church towards euthanasia is
even more intolerable. Russian theologians insist that only God
is the Ruler of life and death; therefore, they consider attempts
to legalize euthanasia as "morally unacceptable acts."
The chapter on the problems of bioethics in a document The Basics
of the Social Concept of the Russian Orthodox Church, which was
adopted by the Bishops' Council in 2000, defines euthanasia as
"a form of murder or suicide depending on whether a patient
participates in the act or not." In the latter case, the
sinful nature of the act is even greater and it deprives the deceased
of the right to be buried according to Christian tradition and
to have a liturgy at the burial.
Nevertheless, secular Russia is continuing to discuss the legalization
of "mercy-killing." And, as in many other countries,
there are always people who use the noise of discussions to secretly
help those who suffer to voluntarily end their lives.
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