AG certifies end-of-life petition(Massachusetts)

[SecularMotion]

Source: Berkshire Eagle

A state petition to allow terminally ill adults to end their own lives with a lethal prescription passed the first hurdle to appearing on the 2012 ballot when Attorney General Martha Coakley certified it on Wednesday.

Proponents of the Death with Dignity Act, who say the measure would give patients more control and peace of mind in their last days, are beginning to gather the approximately 68,900 signatures necessary to bring the petition up for the Legislature's consideration.

The Catholic church, a major opponent, said Wednesday that the initiative could lead to "effectively authorizing the killing of human beings prior to their natural death."

If it became law, the petition would license those with a prognosis of six months or less to live to receive a prescription for a lethal dose from their doctor. Unbiased witnesses to the signing of the request, a 15-day waiting period, and the fact that the dose must be self-administered are among the provisions included in the measure.

Read more: http://www.berkshireeagle.com/ci_18848950

[Ineeda]

1. I might be moving back to Massachusetts someday

(VERY temporarily - LOL) instead of living here in Terri Schiavo territory. Humane treatment of the terminally ill is so civilized.

[movonne]

10. We have that here in Oregon...Ashcroff tried to have it stopped but

we won...

[enlightenment]

2. Heartening.

Could I ask a favor? Would it be possible to include, along with the snippet of the article, the location (state)?

There are a lot of Berkshires and probably more than one Berkshire Eagle. Glancing at the page, one would guess this one is in Virginia (flooding/Richmond) - it's not until well into the piece that Massachusetts is mentioned.

Thank you for posting. It is heartening to see that some common sense prevails.

[SecularMotion]

4. Good suggestion

LBN rules require the title to be the published title of the article, but the only spot to post the location would be in the comment at the bottom of the post AFTER the snippet.

[Demit]

6. Can't the OP put the state in parens, after the title? I've seen that. It should be ok.

[SecularMotion]

8. That should work , thanks

[enlightenment]

13. Anywhere would be fine by me -

I appreciate the consideration.

Thanks!

[sinkingfeeling]

3. Please when posting in GD, let us know what state the article is about.

[SoapBox]

5. Bravo...

Great news.

The Holy and Pious crowd, needs to butt out of MY decision, as this will apply.

[russspeakeasy]

7. Thanks for the post...it's about time isn't it...?

:smoke: Thanks again.

[millijac]

9. Martha Coakley is the best AG in the country.

Hands down.

[LongTomH]

11. It's a very positive move forward.

I've heard a number of friends and family - including some devout Christians - say they would want the option of ending their lives if they were in intractable pain. I hope our own Aliengirl has that option, if she wants it.

The UK is taking baby steps toward such a policy, as this interview with Sir Terry Pratchett points out.

[KamaAina]

14. AlienGirl herself has a slightly different take on the situation

as long as we're going to invoke her :loveya: , here she is, in her own words:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=105&topic_id=9776270&mesg_id=9776386

...if I am really lucky a compassionate soul will see to it that I "accidentally" am given too much before it comes to that point.

:cry:

[KamaAina]

12. Careful. Assisted suicide isn't really a progressive issue

People with disabilities, for one, generally oppose it adamantly. Here's Marilyn Golden, who I can personally testify is as progressive as I am:

http://disweb.org/cda/issues/pas/golden1.html

HOW MANY WOULD BE HELPED AND HOW MANY WOULD BE HARMED. While an extremely small number of people may benefit, they will tend to be at the upper end of the income scale, white, and have good health insurance coverage. At the same time, large numbers of people, particularly among those less privileged in society, would be at significant risk of substantial harm. We must separate our private wishes for what we each may hope to have available for ourselves some day and, rather, focus on the significant dangers of legalizing assisted suicide as public policy in this society as it is today. Assisted suicide would have many unintended consequences.

MANAGED CARE AND ASSISTED SUICIDE ARE A DEADLY MIX. Perhaps the most significant problem is the deadly mix between assisted suicide and profit-driven managed health care. Health maintenance organizations (HMO's) and managed care bureaucrats are already overruling doctors' treatment decisions, sometimes hastening patients' deaths. The cost of the lethal medication generally used for assisted suicide is about $35 to $50, far cheaper than the cost of treatment for most long-term medical conditions. The incentive to save money by denying treatment is already a significant danger; it would be far greater if assisted suicide is legal. It's not coincidental that the author of Oregon's assisted suicide law, Barbara Coombs Lee, was an HMO executive when she drafted it. Assisted suicide will accelerate the decline in quality of our health care system....

FEAR, BIAS, AND PREJUDICE AGAINST DISABILITY. Another major problem with assisted suicide is who ends up using it, both in Oregon and in the only place it’s been legally tolerated long enough to show the impact, the Netherlands. The point of assisted suicide is purported to be relief from untreatable pain at the end of life. However, all but one of the people in Oregon who were reported to have used that state's assisted suicide law during its first year wanted suicide not because of pain, but for fear of losing functional ability, autonomy, or control of bodily functions. Oregon’s subsequent reports have had similar results. Further, in the Netherlands, more than half the doctors surveyed say the main reason given by patients for seeking death is “loss of dignity.”

This fear of disability typically underlies assisted suicide. Said one assisted suicide advocate, "Pain is not the main reason we want to die. It's the indignity. It's the inability to get out of bed or get onto the toilet...(People)...say, 'I can't stand my mother - my husband - wiping my behind.' It's about dignity." But needing help is not undignified, and death is not better than dependency. Have we gotten to the point that we will abet suicides because people need help using the toilet?

[SecularMotion]

15. Choice is a progressive issue

The CDA may raise valid concerns about details of assisted suicide, but their partners in opposition seem to be opposed on religious grounds.

"Many feel otherwise, however. Groups such as the Catholic Church, anti-abortion groups and the California Disability Alliance claim that legalizing assisted suicide would devalue life."

http://www.thetigernews.com/news.php?aid=4522&sid=

[KamaAina]

16. So does the AMA

Politics does indeed make strange bedfellows. I've actually sat at the table with religious rightists on this issue! The one time I really got stabby was when the guy from the Catholic Church tried to bring civil unions into it (this was in Hawai'i, while that was still very much in contention).

[SecularMotion]

18. The AMA opposes assisted suicide because it conflicts with the role of physician as healer

but according to a University of Michigan study, "a majority of doctors approve of the practice of physician-assisted suicide."

http://www.villagelife.org/news/archives/asssui_doctors.html

What are your grounds for opposition?

[KamaAina]

19. For people with disabilities, the "right to die" can become a duty to die

for the reasons expressed in Marilyn Golden's essay above.

I personally know people with disabilities who have had total strangers come up to them on the street and say, "I'd rather be dead than be like you"! Now imagine if that person were a doctor, holding a syringe. :scared:

[SecularMotion]

20. "The petition would license those with a prognosis of six months or less to live"

I think your fears of the danger to people with disabilities are unwarranted in this case.

[KamaAina]

21. Who gives the prognosis?

Plenty of people have been given six months to live and are still very much among the quick.

[SecularMotion]

22. Massachusetts Death With Dignity Act

http://www.mass.gov/Cago/docs/Government/2011-Petitions/11-12.pdf

[KamaAina]

23. Oregon's and Washington's laws have the same feature

but the disability community isn't convinced, especially since such prognoses are just that -- prognoses.

[comalog]

24. Petitioner is Dr. Marcia Angell - Time named her one of the 25 most influential Americans

http://www.dignity2012.org/?page_id=59

MARCIA ANGELL, MD ● Cambridge, MA
Dr. Angell was the first woman to serve as editor-in-chief of the New England Journal of Medicine. She currently is a Senior Lecturer in Social Medicine at Harvard Medical School. Dr. Angell writes frequently in professional journals and the popular media on a wide range of topics, particularly medical ethics, health policy, care at the end of life, and the relations between industry and academic medicine. In 1997, Time magazine named Dr. Angell one of the 25 most influential Americans.

[KamaAina]

17. Ironically, this is National Suicide Prevention Week

I just realized that. You can't make this stuff up.