Medical Assistance in Dying requires a deeper conversation about human dignity

Medical Assistance in Dying requires a deeper conversation about human dignity A pastoral and theological reflection on dignity, suffering, and the freedom to choose at the end of life. By Mogomotsi D. Diutlwileng 26 Jul 2026 Reverend Mogomotsi D. Diutlwileng is an ordained Minister of the Methodist Church of Southern Africa and Advisory Trustee Board Member of Dignity SA. Dive Deeper Speed Read Listen Dive Deeper Opinion This article is an Opinion, which presents the writer's personal point of view. The views expressed are those of the author/authors and do not necessarily represent the views of Daily Maverick. Every human being is created in the image of God and therefore possesses inherent worth, dignity and sacred value. This conviction has shaped my ministry for more than two decades. It is also the reason I have chosen to publicly align myself with Dignity SA and its advocacy for Medical Assistance in Dying (MAiD).Dignity SA is committed to advancing human dignity, compassionate end-of-life care, informed personal choice, and the development of an ethical and carefully regulated legal framework for MAiD in South Africa. At its heart, the organisation seeks neither to diminish the value of life nor to hasten death indiscriminately. Rather, it seeks to affirm that every person deserves to live and to die with dignity, compassion, autonomy and respect.My support for this cause is not merely theoretical. It is deeply personal.My wife, Baagi, and I had the profound privilege and heartbreak of caring for both our mothers during the final stages of their lives. My mother lived with dementia until her passing. My mother-in-law endured relentless pain as multiple organs gradually failed before she eventually died.Those experiences changed me forever.We watched two remarkable women, once the strong matriarchs of our families, women of courage, discipline, wisdom, hard work and independence, gradually lose the ability to care for themselves. The women who had once cared for everyone else eventually required assistance with every basic task of daily living.Slow declineThe emotional and psychological burden of witnessing this slow decline is difficult to describe. Perhaps even more painful were the conversations with doctors who gently told us that medicine had reached its limits, and that nothing more could be done except to manage the inevitable journey toward death. The most telling thing of the entire experience was to see how my mother was taken to the hospital in an ambulance. After a month she was brought back in an ambulance, then feeding through a tube or G-tube.As family members, we felt helpless. As a minister, I prayed. As a son, I grieved long before death finally arrived.Those moments forced me to wrestle deeply with questions that every pastor eventually faces: What does it mean to preserve human dignity? What is the purpose of suffering? And what does genuine compassion require of us?The Christian faith teaches that life is a precious gift from God. I hold that conviction wholeheartedly. Yet I also believe that human dignity involves more than merely biological existence. It encompasses our capacity to relate, to love, to contribute, to make choices and to exercise responsible stewardship over our lives.When terminal illness irreversibly strips away these capacities and leaves a person enduring unbearable suffering with no hope of recovery, we must have the courage to ask difficult ethical questions.Throughout scripture, suffering is never romanticised.Job cried out in anguish. Jeremiah lamented his very birth. David poured out his pain in the Psalms. Even our Lord Jesus Christ prayed in Gethsemane that the cup of suffering might pass from Him before crying from the cross: “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”These faithful witnesses did not celebrate suffering as a virtue in itself. Rather, they brought their suffering honestly before God.Prolonged, excruciating sufferingCertainly, suffering can deepen faith, strengthen character, and cultivate compassion. Many believers, myself included, have discovered profound spiritual growth through seasons of hardship. Yet I struggle to see what divine purpose is served when a person who is irreversibly dying endures prolonged, excruciating suffering that medicine can neither cure nor meaningfully relieve.Does God require such suffering? I do not believe so. Instead, I believe God calls us to embody mercy, compassion and love. These are not abstract theological ideals, but practical expressions of our discipleship.For this reason, I believe society should seriously consider a carefully regulated framework for Medical Assistance in Dying.Such a framework is not about abandoning vulnerable people. Quite the opposite. It should include rigorous legal safeguards, comprehensive medical evaluation, psychological assessment to ensure that the individual has full decision-making capacity, thorough counselling, informed consent, and independent professional oversight. Most importantly, any request for MAiD must originate solely from the patient, free from coercion or external pressure.This is not a licence for abuse; it is a commitment to protecting both human dignity and human life while respecting informed personal choice in exceptional circumstances.My support for Dignity SA therefore rests on several deeply held convictions.First, I have personally witnessed the profound suffering of terminal illness and the heartbreaking loss of dignity experienced by those we love.Not inherently virtuousSecond, I do not believe that unavoidable suffering at the end of life is inherently virtuous or that it somehow glorifies God simply because it is endured.Third, I believe that personal moral agency – the God-given capacity to make thoughtful, responsible choices – is itself part of the dignity bestowed upon every human being.Fourth, I believe that allowing a mentally competent adult, acting freely and with full medical understanding, to decide how they wish to face an inevitable death is ultimately a profound question of human dignity.Finally, death is the one certainty we all share. Every one of us will eventually stand at that threshold. If, at that moment, a person of sound mind, guided by faith, supported by family, counselled by medical professionals, and protected by robust legal safeguards prayerfully concludes that they wish to receive medical assistance in dying, I believe their carefully considered decision deserves thoughtful respect.As a minister of the Methodist Church, I recognise that faithful Christians will disagree on this issue. I respect those differences. Yet I also believe the Church has a sacred responsibility to accompany people compassionately through life’s most difficult ethical questions, rather than avoid them.For me, supporting Dignity SA is ultimately about affirming the sacred worth of every person until their final breath. It is about compassion over judgement, dignity over despair, thoughtful discernment over fear, and love that honours both life and the freedom with which God has entrusted us.That is why I have chosen to stand with Dignity SA. DM Opinionistas Medical Assistance in Dying Dignity SA freedom of choice end-of-life care