*Legalized assisted suicide only applies to terminally ill patients.
*Many individuals with chronic illnesses or disability have been given incorrect initial prognosis or have been misdiagnosed as terminal. In addition, terminal can be a relative term as indicated by some pro-assisted suicide proponents. When testifying before the House of Lords, Ann Jackson of the Oregon Hospice Association described a woman with severe arthritis who had decided to stop eating and drinking in order to hasten her death. The woman's daughter thought she would be ineligible for hospice care because she was not terminally ill. Ms. Jackson said, “I pointed out that if she was not eating or drinking, she was terminally ill and, yes, she should be eligible for hospice care.” Assisted-suicide activists now soft-pedal their movement’s earlier vigorous advocacy of voluntary euthanasia for people with disabilities.
The Hemlock Society (now part of Compassion & Choices) used to define mercy-killing as “the killing of a terminally or incurably ill person to put him or her out of perceived misery.” (F. J. Girsh, “Physician Aid in Dying – What Physicians Say, What Patients Say, What Politicians Say,” Western Journal of Medicine 157 (August 1992):188-89.) Hemlock’s founder Derek Humphry devoted an entire chapter of his book Final Exit to the need for legalized assisted suicide for peoplewith significant disabilities. ( Derek Humphry, Final Exit: The Practicalities of Self-Deliverance and Assisted Suicide for the Dying “The Dilemma of Quadriplegics,” 58-62) Once the principle of assisted suicide is established as a legal right, it will be extremely difficult or impossible to argue that the application of that right should be limited to a relatively small group of terminal patients and not allow this option for the chronically ill and disabled that have “unbearable suffering.” NEXT>>
More Myths:
-This law would strengthen the doctor patient bond and open up discussions about end of life care.
- Oregon data proves patients are of sound mind and given a psychological evaluation.
- Oregon has had a safe, peaceful and painless experience with physician-assisted suicide.