The Health 202: Legalizing assisted suicide has stalled at every level (U.S.)
Washington Post 24 October 2017
Family First Comment: What the NZ media won’t tell you…..
“…none of the 27 states where such measures were introduced this year passed them into law…. Federal lawmakers, too, are pushing back against the controversial idea. A spending bill passed by the House last month would block the District’s assisted suicide law, which went into effect in February. Eleven House members – including six Democrats — have introduced a resolution condemning the practice. “It undermines a key safeguard that protects our nation’s most vulnerable citizens, including the elderly, people with disabilities and people experiencing psychiatric diagnoses,” the resolution says. “Americans deserve better.”
New Zealand deserves better also
www.rejectassistedsuicide.nz
Three years ago, Brittany Maynard’s viral video launched the issue of medically assisted suicide into the national spotlight. But while advocates have notched a few wins since then, they’ve also run up against some strong, bipartisan resistance.
Two states — California and Colorado — have made it legal for doctors to prescribe life-ending medication to terminally ill patients since Maynard, diagnosed with an aggressive form of brain cancer, publicized her decision to end her life. Physician-assisted suicide is legal in six states, including Vermont, Oregon, Washington and Montana, as well as the District.
Yet none of the 27 states where such measures were introduced this year passed them into law, according to tracking done by Compassion and Choices, a group that backs assisted suicide. The bills were either quashed in committee or passed one legislative chamber but not the other. That was the case even in states run by Democrats, including Connecticut, Rhode Island and Hawaii.
New York’s highest court upheld the state’s ban on assisted death in September, ruling unanimously that the terminally ill patients who brought the case don’t have a constitutional right to obtain life-ending drugs from a doctor.
Federal lawmakers, too, are pushing back against the controversial idea. A spending bill passed by the House last month would block the District’s assisted suicide law, which went into effect in February. Eleven House members – including six Democrats — have introduced a resolution condemning the practice.
“It undermines a key safeguard that protects our nation’s most vulnerable citizens, including the elderly, people with disabilities and people experiencing psychiatric diagnoses,” the resolution says. “Americans deserve better.”
Doctors’ groups remain overwhelmingly opposed to assisted suicide. Although the California Medical Association switched its stance from opposing to neutral in 2015, other state medical associations remain opposed. So does the American Medical Association, which considers it to be “fundamentally incompatible with the physician’s role as healer” and poses “serious societal risks.”
A top concern about legalizing assisted suicide is that it could put financial pressure on patients to choose that option instead of treatment, if their insurer covers life-ending medication but not life-extending therapies. Another is that it could be chosen by patients just as they’re most susceptible to depression while they’re fighting aggressive illnesses.
READ MORE: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/powerpost/paloma/the-health-202/2017/10/24/the-health-202-legalizing-assisted-suicide-has-stalled-at-every-level/59ee109330fb045cba000973/?utm_term=.81323a137fe2
