Is an Advance Medical Directive (AMD) allowed in a biblical world view, if we acknowledge that God is in control of our lives? I am going for a surgery and want to be prepared so that my family does not have to face difficult decisions or financial burdens as I am already in my senior years.
Joey says
Dear Singaporean senior,
In Singapore, the AMD “inform[s] the doctor treating you (in the event you become terminally ill and unconscious) that you do not want any extraordinary life-sustaining treatment to be used to prolong your life”. According to Section 2 of the AMD Act, “extraordinary life-sustaining treatment” refers to “any medical procedure or measure which, when administered to a terminally ill patient, will only prolong the process of dying when death is imminent”.
With modern advancements in medicine, a dying person who cannot live independently can be kept alive for a while through extraordinary life-sustaining measures. It would be all too easy to rely on such medical intervention to artificially prolong the life of a dying person because either the dying or their loved ones are not ready to face death. This often causes unnecessary suffering to the terminally ill. The AMD seeks to avoid this.
From the point of view of the Christian faith, to opt against extraordinary life-sustaining measures in the face of imminent death is an act of surrendering ourselves to God. It is an acceptance of the human condition. This is different from euthanasia (also euphemistically called “assisted dying”) because the goal of the AMD is not to escape suffering by terminating life, but to avoid medical intervention that does not preserve life. Therefore, the AMD in Singapore is not at odds with the Christian worldview. (This is not the case for AMDs in other countries that allow for euthanasia.)
Life and death are in the hands of God, but it does not preclude us preparing for death via AMDs and wills. But more important is the spiritual preparation for death even while we are healthy. The goal is to be able to say with Paul: “To live is Christ and to die is gain.” It is too complicated a topic to address here, but it means building up our faith so that we are prepared to meet death without fear, with confidence in God and with peace.
