The chairman of the US bishops' Committee on Pro-Life Activities has called for increased efforts and "renewed vigour" to stop legalised physician-assisted suicide after the practice was approved by voters in Colorado and the District of Columbia City Council.
Cardinal Timothy Dolan of New York urged Catholics to join medical professionals, disability rights groups and others "in fighting for the authentic care" of people facing terminal illness in a statement released on November 21.
"The act of prescribing a fatal, poisonous dose, moreover, undermines the very heart of medicine," Cardinal Dolan said. "Doctors vow to do no harm, and yet assisted suicide is the ultimate abandonment of their patients."
