Jehovah’s Witness Family Assists In Woman’s Suicide
Jehovah’s Witness Family Assists In Woman’s Suicide
Emma Gough gave birth to twins last week. She lost a lot of blood in the process. A blood transfusion would have saved her life. But she said no. Because she’s a Jehovah’s Witness. Then she died.
Via Friendly Atheist.
This was a murder-suicide, no doubt about it.
Now let me be clear I think people have the inalienable right to choose their time and place of death. But a prerequisite has to be that they are sane, cognizant and clear about what they are doing. And making such a decision by default, and through heartless inaction letting your wife, sister or daughter die from lack of blood has to be one of the most crass and inhuman acts in the human repertoire of evil.
Framing it as some kind of sacrifice in service to some non-existent god is a blasphemy against humanity and the sacredness–yes sacredness–of life. If jumping off a bridge is illegal or physician-assisted suicide is illegal, then it should clearly be illegal for Jehovah’s Witnesses to withhold necessary medical treatment. The result is the same. The motivation and method are irrelevant.
It would be a tragedy enough if this poor mother died of natural causes. That it was an easily preventable death takes it out of the realm of tragedy and puts it in the realm of stupidity. This poor woman should get a Darwin Award, except she already had her kids, and they will hopefully escape the infection of their mother’s fatal mind-virus. I wonder if the Watchtower Society is planning to pay for these poor kids’ care–psychiatric and otherwise.
Some people argue that we have to allow people of faith to come to their own conclusions, and respect their developmental stages. This sordid situation proves that there is often not time to “let” people figure things out on their own. Sometimes the mental disease of faith is so severe that only the state or a family member can intervene to prevent senseless death.
I’d say this family shoud be ashamed of themselves, but their grief is punishment enough. I hope they figure out that what killed their beloved sister, wife, daughter and mother was her faith. If they don’t then Emma Gough will have died in vain.
