The University Record, February 13, 1996
Hans Kung to speak on euthanasia
“Euthanasia: New Theological Perspectives on Dying” will be the focus of a speech by Hans Kung at 7:30 p.m Feb. 19 in Rackham Auditorium.
A theologian and educator recently retired from Germany’s University of Tubingen, the 67-year-old Swiss -born Catholic theologian often has been in conflict with the church and at one time was forbidden by the Vatican to teach.
In a recent issue of Michigan Alumnus, Kung wrote as an introduction to his upcoming lecture:
“Highly technological medicine in particular, which provides therapy through apparatuses, must not lead to the terminally ill being left alone. The perfect clinic must not become a mere service station with maximal bio -chemical care and at the same time minimal human care.
“Today’s care of the body, which is usually as good as can be,” he said, “does not of itself help the tortured soul,” and those who are dying “do not want to be made unconscious by means of psychotropic drugs or morphine and so be deprived of dialogue with family and friends. They want to say good-bye with a clear consciousness and die. And as they cannot die, they want effective help toward dying a dignified death.”
Kung’s presentation is sponsored by the Program on Studies in Religion and is one of a number of activities related to LS&A’s theme semester, “Death, Extinction and the Future of Humanity: Approaching the Millennium.”
