Marsha's Musings: Two Articles Worth Thinking About

I recently learned that we will be voting in WA State on whether or not to legalize Physician Assisted Suicide. This is a very scary proposition to me. So I am posting a couple of articles I found on the issue for you to read and think about. Even if you don't live in WA, you state may soon decide to put this on your ballots. So be informed.

http://www.redcounty.com/washington/2008/08/assisted-suicide-not-worth-dyi/
Assisted Suicide Not Worth Dying For
Posted by: Angie Vogt 08/02/2008 10:16 AM
Initiative 1000 (I-1000) advocates point to Oregon, our neighboring state on the left coast, as a model to look for in their "Death with Dignity" movement. Oregonians passed their own assisted suicide law about ten years ago, but advocates have been unsuccessful since then in keeping their movement alive.


I wonder which part of the law these nihilists think will appeal to Washingtonians the most. Could it be the convenience factor that allows a patient to request their death serum by phone? Or perhaps it's the efficiency it affords overworked and underpaid doctors, who can simply fax the prescription to any drug store. Or perhaps, Washington state will be the second state in the country to see the clear and convincing cost-benefit analysis of offering a cheap death rather than pay for all those expensive life saving options like chemotherapy.


A recent report by Fox News explains that the state of Oregon offers that exact rationale to it's citizens, in particular to 53-year-old Randy Stoup of Dexter, Oregon who suffers from prostate cancer. He was informed by letter that the state wold happily cover the cost of physician assisted suicide, but, darn it, just couldn't cover the cost of chemotherapy.Palliative care, which requires continuous close observation in administering pain relief and comfort to the dying is also expensive...and that's a luxury many "bottom line" bean counters just aren't willing to pay for. Tag the toe, put them in a drawer, that's what "death with dignity" advocates are all about.


This is what happens when a society hands over health care to large institutions, be it the government or private actuary driven insurance. The truth is, the one who pays has the power and in Oregon at least, the very value of life itself has been relinquished to the state.


In my weekly column in the Federal Way Mirror, I explain the philosophical underpinnings of the death movement. The one area where center-right politicos like myself do not cave in to fiscal pressures is where the value of life is concerned. In fact, Thomas Jefferson himself stated that "the preservation of life and not it's destruction" is a certain duty of government.


To learn more go to the No Assisted Suicide website.

http://www.theolympian.com/opinion/story/227080.html
Physician-assisted suicide symptom of broken system
• Published September 28, 2007
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Comments (12)
Washington state is no place for the Oregon-style legalization of physician-assisted suicide.
Many people with whom I frequently see eye to eye disagree with me on this point. They view the issue simply as one of personal choice. They are mistaken because, for many, the only real choice would be death.


When so many people are uninsured or have inadequate access to medical care, who can choose to receive preventive health care? How many can choose to be diagnosed in time to undergo life-saving treatments? It is cruel to beat the drum of choice when so many are effectively left to choose between death and death.


Then there is the matter of pain. Nobody wants to be in pain and nobody should have to be. Advocating death as a solution to pain is extreme and betrays a lack of ingenuity. Pain does not have to be uncontrollable; it can be effectively managed. By enacting progressive drug policy, we would make more effective pain management strategies available to doctors and their patients and assuage their fear of prosecution. Rather than pave the expressway to death, the Legislature could provide incentives for researchers who expedite the development of innovative drugs and pain-management tools.


Physician-assisted suicide is less about choice or pain management than power. If legalized, physician-assisted suicide will inevitably align the power of the state, big money interests and a broken medical system. If the state sanctions the participation of medical professionals in the killing of patients, the matter transcends the individual who dies. We cannot divorce ourselves from policy decisions made in our name. As citizens, we would all be complicit, by extension, in these deliberate deaths.


Even under the best circumstances, people face disadvantages in navigating state and medical systems. Is it reasonable to expect a person to negotiate with these powerful interests at a time when he or she is likely to have the least energy or emotional reserve? These circumstances are ripe for abuse.


Some who support physician-assisted suicide argue that Oregon- style safeguards will prevent abuses. But in Oregon, the records regarding implementation of physician-assisted suicide are destroyed. There is no way to independently audit them. We are left to trust that the records were accurate and the people who recorded them were truthful.


The American medical system has a long record of bias. Disparities in access to care based on race, class and gender are well documented. Is it so great a leap to think that a system with a record of perpetuating bias could abuse its power to promote death as a management strategy to achieve cost savings?


As a person with a life-long disability, I am all too familiar with the institutional power of the modern medical industry. Like many, I have experienced the consequences of being objectified and discredited within that system. Those who are considered inconvenient, who require too many resources, or who fail to meet an arbitrary health standard, are too likely to be the casualties if death passes for compassionate health policy. I fear that death will become the logical expectation of a system that prizes cost savings above people.


Joelle Brouner, a member of The Olympian’s Diversity Panel, is a disability rights activist who can be reached at joellebrouner@earthlink.net.