Massachusetts May Soon Change How the Nation Dies 439
Hugh Pickens writes "Lewis M. Cohen reports that this Election Day, Massachusetts is poised to approve the Death With Dignity Act, a modernized, sanitized, politically palatable term that replaces the now-antiquated expression 'physician-assisted suicide.' Oregon's Death With Dignity Act has been in effect for the past 14 years, and the state of Washington followed suit with a similar law in 2008. But the Massachusetts ballot question has the potential to turn death with dignity from a legislative experiment into the new national norm, because the state is the home of America's leading medical publication (the New England Journal of Medicine), hospital (Massachusetts General), and four medical schools (Harvard, Boston University, University of Massachusetts, and Tufts). If the act passes in Massachusetts, other states that have previously had unsuccessful campaigns will certainly be emboldened to revisit this subject. The initiative would allow terminally ill patients with six months or less to live to request from their doctor a prescription for a lethal dose of a drug. Doctors do not have to offer the option at all, and patients must make three requests, two verbal and one written. They must self-administer the drug, which would be ingested. The patients must be deemed capable of making an informed decision. 'It's all about choice,' says George Eighmey, a key player in instituting the Oregon law, defending it against repeal and shepherding it into reality. 'You decide. No one else can decide for you. No can can force you into it, coerce you into it or even suggest it to you unless you make a statement: "I don't want to live like this any more" or "I'm interested in that law out there, doctor, can you give me something to alleviate this pain and suffering."'"
Question: (Score:3, Informative)
Or is this aiming to legally protect doctors who are assisting patients?
Re:Question: (Score:5, Informative)
Is it really that difficult to acquire a lethal dose of a drug without doctor assistance?
Or is this aiming to legally protect doctors who are assisting patients?
Yes, and yes.
some sense at last (Score:4, Informative)
Re:life insurance (Score:4, Informative)
Per the act: "The attending physician may sign the patient’s death certificate which shall list the underlying terminal disease as the cause of death." So the insurance company might not even get to know.
Link to the 2012 Ballot Questions (pdf). This question is #2:
http://www.sec.state.ma.us/ele/elepdf/IFV-2012.pdf
Re:Death with Dignity. (Score:1, Informative)
Just to note, though I'm averse in general to the "religion says its wrong, therefore its right" form of rationale...
There are no prohibitions of suicide in Judeo-Christian scriptures.
Re:Why not? It worked so well in Germany in 1939 (Score:2, Informative)
Re:Question: (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Death with Dignity. (Score:4, Informative)
The term suicide -- which is generally defined as the "act or an instance of intentionally killing oneself"-- is not specifically used in the Scriptures; however, the injunction against killing embodied in the Ten Commandments, i.e., "Thou shalt not kill" (Exodus 20:13), dealing with the unlawful homicide of another human being, would also forbid the murder of self. The very fact that the Almighty is the Giver Of All Life and "formeth the spirit of man within him" (Zechariah 12:1), tells us that it is not within our right to arbitrarily terminate our own life, against His permission. "Because man goeth to his long home, and the mourners go about the streets: Or ever the silver cord be loosed, or the golden bowl be broken, or the pitcher be broken at the fountain, or the wheel broken at the cistern. Then shall the dust return to the Earth as it was: and the spirit shall return unto God Who gave it" (Ecclesiastes 12:5-7).
To understand suicide to be sin against God and against self, is in keeping with the LORD Jesus Christ's statement concerning the Spirit of the Moral Law, where "love is the fulfilling of the Law" (Romans 13:10). "37 Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. 38 This is the First and Great Commandment. 39 And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself" (Matthew 22:37-39). God requires, both in His Law and Gospel, that all moral agents choose the highest good of God, and of our being in general, for its own sake, as our ultimate purpose in life, i.e., a supreme love for God and an equal love of our neighbour as we would love ourselves. "For no man ever yet hated his own flesh; but nourisheth and cherisheth it, even as the LORD the Church" (Ephesians 5:29).
Neither the modern legal nor medical definitions of suicide entail the Scriptural aspect of suicide being the transgression of the Moral Law, where both God and man are denied the love that are rightfully due them. "If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother [much less, himself], he is a liar: for he that loveth not his brother [or, himself] whom he hath seen, how can he love God Whom he hath not seen?" (1John 4:20). The supreme hatred of one's self and life, where a morally capable individual voluntarily terminates his own life, is also preeminent contempt of the "God [Who] Is Love" (4:16). Especially for True Christians, the very idea of disposing of our own lives as if we were the masters of them, is unthinkable. "For none of us liveth to himself, and no man dieth to himself" (Romans 14:7).
http://www.whatsaiththescripture.com/Fellowship/What.Bible.Says.Suicide.html [whatsaitht...ipture.com]
I always just thought "Thou shalt not kill" extended to self, but apparently there's more to it.
The simple facts (Score:5, Informative)
I can't believe what a bunch of ignorant wild speculation is contained in the comments on this page. No one has even bothered to find out what Massachusetts Ballot Question 2 actually proposes [state.ma.us]. But it's simple enough in a nutshell.
It would be assured that the patient is adult, informed, and competent; ORIGINATES the action HIMSELF; is really facing imminent and certain death as determined by both attending and consulting physicians; confirms his wish three times with plenty of time enforced to think it over; and has to sign a form in the presence of witnesses meeting prescribed qualifications. Medication would be prescribed which would be certain to result in a humane death. I have been told by the opposition it consists of 100 Seconals to dissolve in water and drink promptly[1], but the measure does not appear to specify such. A big overdose of morphine would work just as well if not better (yes, morphine can be taken orally; it just requires more of it). It's what is used now "off the record" in hospitals when a patient is in irreversible unbearable agony and his body is betraying his dignity, if he is lucky enough to have access to a physician or nurse willing to risk everything to REALLY help him the only way that counts. Don't pretend it doesn't and won't happen even without the protection of the law. The law just prevents criminalization of what is one of the kindest and most caring acts it is possible to undertake.
It is prescribed that the death certificate shall specify the cause of death as the diagnosed disease, NOT "suicide". This is important. The patient is not "choosing death". That is HOGWASH. The patient is choosing the MANNER and TIMING of death. That is all. The death is already ordained.
The measure would specifically outlaw (and prescribe punishment for) coercing the patient, forging a patient request, or suppressing a recission by a patient of his own request. It would not allow the active participation in the ending of the patient's life. Contrary to the opposition hysteria, it is specifically NOT, repeat NOT, an assisted suicide measure. It is a lifting of sanction against suicide under controlled circumstances, and an above-board way for the patient to acquire the means without the risk of screwing up and having the effort come out badly. It is nothing MORE than this.
Anyone who opposes this measure is a DAMNED EVIL BASTARD who should rot in hell.
[1] The opposition expresses horror at this "dangerous" (WHA???) method of self termination, as if falling asleep for the final time is some kind of torture.
Re:Why not? It worked so well in Germany in 1939 (Score:2, Informative)
So less "evil Nazis out to kill you and take your property" and more "doctors making ill-informed opinions about what they think is best for you but actually isn't", but it still is a concern for a lot of people.
Re:Question: (Score:5, Informative)
With that all said, I hope to never be there, but I want the option and more over I want to give the option to others.
Re:Question: (Score:5, Informative)
"A bullet works, too, but it leaves more of a mess for someone to clean up. I understand haning one's self isn't a bad way to go. Slitting your wrists might be a little painful, particularly if the blade isn't sharp."
For the sake of someone who might consider any of these things they are all bad ways to go. Most people don't know enough about bullets and human anatomy to be certain they don't end up a vegetable or paralyzed. Hanging is a horrible way to go along with drowning, it is a slow and painful process and most of the rope you would buy at the store will stretch when your weight is applied. My aunt hung herself on a closet door and I'll never forget the long fingernail grooves in the door.
Suicide is extremely selfish but if someone is going to do it a combination of drugs to put you to sleep and a heavy gas are what you need. Take strong pain killers, muscle relaxers, etc. Get a CO2 tank and a solenoid you can put on a timer then go into an enclosed space like a closet. The drugs put you to sleep, the gas makes sure you don't wake up. If I'm wrong somehow, or you didn't have enough drugs, or you otherwise find it unpleasant, just open the door to the enclosed space.