Thursday on “Faith Matters,” our quarterly program that addresses issues through a faith perspective, hosts Kyle Reese from Hendricks Avenue Baptist Church and Nancy Bronner, executive director of OneJax, discussed death with dignity. National healthcare organizations increasingly support medical aid in dying and reject the terms “suicide” and “assisted suicide” to describe it. The national debate is growing, and six states have now made it legal for doctors to help terminally ill patients end their lives. Fifteen additional states are considering similar legislation.
Guest to talk about the issue included Dr. Ted Glasser, medical director of the Baptist Hospitalist Program; Susan Ponder-Stansel, CEO of Community Hospice of Northeast Florida; Elliott Palevsky, CEO emeritus of River Garden Senior Services; The Very Reverend Kate Moorehead, dean of St. Johns Episcopal Cathedral; Rev. Leonard Chuwa, system director, Formation & Ethics, St. Vincent’s Healthcare; Rabbi Rick Shapiro, senior rabbi at The Temple; and Dr. Qudratullah Mojadidi, OB-GYN faculty member at the University of Florida College of Medicine.
