I do not agree with euthanasia though I must admit that seeing terminally ill patients go through hell on earth, screaming in pain in spite of being given morphine, moves me to the point of crying non stop and wanting to bang my head against the wall in miserable frustration.

Still my agreement is that there is no doctor on earth who has the divine right to play God.

No human being has the right to decide the time and date another person dies in spite of the latter going through massive waves of agony. Doctors are there for one reason – to prolong lives, not eliminate them.

I cannot condemn Piergiorgio Welby for wanting to die. I myself, though I do not see euthanasia as a positive action, have no right to judge poor Welby for wanting to die so badly.

I also have no right to pronounce doctors who allow patients to die as misfits in the medical profession because their feelings for their patients, despite being no relation to them, are based on mercy, on compassion and on a deep and profound pity.

What I condemn utterly and totally is the way Piergiorgio Welby was denied the right to a decent burial.

How dare the Catholic Church, masters at speaking about forgiveness, shy away from giving Welby a Catholic burial? As far as I know, suicide cases are not denied a Christian burial, so why was Piergiorgio Welby’s “form of suicide” deprived of the same rights of those who take their own lives?

If the Catholic Church condemned Welby for his wrongdoing, isn’t the Church to be condemned for their “wrong” in giving him a “pagan” funeral? Since when did the Church promote the argument that two wrongs make a right?

Piergiorgio Welby suffered endless pain on this earth but he was not even allowed to atone for his “sin” because he was given an atheist’s funeral.

I am sure that God himself would not be so unforgiving as the Catholic Church.

God be with you through your journey home, Piergiorgio Welby. I am sure He opened Heaven’s gates for you.

Valerie Borg

Valletta