Jack Blandiver says: Here's one from one of her stand-up gigs in which she describes the spiritual benefits of withholding painkillers from the sick & dying. The recording was hard to understand, but I didn't hear anything about withholding painkillers. I thought the woman was talking about trying to find some meaning in suffering - and her joke was an admission that it's not always possible to find meaning in suffering. I think your interpretation is rather distorted. Throughout history, people have sought to find meaning in suffering. Viktor Frankl's Man's Search of Meaning addresses the subject very well. It's not a matter of inviting suffering - it's dealing with it as a reality when it's there. Many people in hospice care choose to limit use of opiates so they can be aware of what's happening to them, and so they can be conscious to take their leave of loved ones. Is there something wrong about that? As far as I can tell, the allegations that Mother Teresa's staff refused to administer painkillers come almost exclusively from the Hitchens organization, and I haven't been able to figure out why Hitchens had such an axe to grind. I've also seen statements that Mother Teresa's staff regularly administered painkillers. So I guess it's a she said/he said situation. No doubt, St. Hitchens must be right, because he's already been canonized and declared infallible by his minions and Mother Teresa hasn't been canonized yet. -Joe-
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