Is Presence Always Complicity? An Analysis of Presence, Its Moral Objects, and Scandal in Proximity to Physician-Assisted Suicide and Euthanasia

Abstract

Catholic chaplains and clinicians who exercise their vocations in contexts wherein physician-assisted suicide and euthanasia (PAS-E) are legal may need to confront the difficult question of whether or not their presence in proximity to these acts and the processes that govern them is consistent with Catholic ethics. Debate on this question to date has focused on complicit presence and scandal. Drawing on Catholic theological ethics and the vision for end-of-life care espoused in the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith’s recent letter, Samaritanus Bonus, I argue that some forms of presence in proximity to PAS-E are ethically justifiable. Core to this argument are the three elements of moral action: intention, object, and circumstance, alongside efforts to mitigate the risk of scandal informed by the teaching of Aquinas.