Opposing Assisted Suicide

Reasons to Reject Assisted Suicide

Some polls indicate that the public is receptive to the general concept of assisted suicide. But the same polls show that when the public learns about its dangers, their views shift against the practice.

The following dangers, among the reasons to oppose assisted suicide, are identified by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops:

Deadly Mix with Our Profit-Driven Health Care System

Patients in Oregon and California, where it is legal, were notified that their health insurance will pay for assisted suicide but will not pay for treatment that may sustain their lives.

Puts Vulnerable Persons at Risk of Abuse and Coercion

Once lethal drugs are prescribed, assisted suicide laws have no requirements for assessing the patient’s consent, competency, or voluntariness. Who would know if the drugs are freely taken since there is no supervision or tracking of the drugs once they leave the pharmacy and no witnesses are required at the time of death? Placing lethal drugs into the hands of potential abusers is a major risk to the elderly. Assisted suicide laws often allow one of the two witnesses to the request for lethal drugs to be an heir to the patient’s estate.

Dangerously Broad Definition of Terminal Illness

Assisted suicide laws don’t distinguish between persons who will die within six months with treatment and those who will die within six months without treatment. Thus, patients with treatable diseases and patients with disabilities requiring a ventilator are eligible for lethal drugs because they would die within six months without the treatment they would normally receive.

Pain Not the Primary Issue

Untreated pain is not among the top reasons for taking lethal drugs. Per official reports, in 2016, 90% of Oregon patients seeking lethal drugs said they were doing so because they were “less able to engage in activities making life enjoyable” and were “losing autonomy,” 49% cited being a “burden” on others. In Washington, only 35% cited a concern about pain.

No Psychiatric Evaluation or Treatment Required

Despite data showing that nearly 95% of those who commit suicide had a diagnosable psychiatric illness, the doctor is free to decide whether to refer suicidal patients for psychological counseling. Per Oregon’s official report, from 2013-2016 less than 4% of patients who died under its assisted suicide law had been referred for counseling to check for “impaired judgment.” If counseling is provided to patients seeking assisted suicide, its goal isn’t to treat the underlying disorder or depression; it’s to determine whether the disorder or depression is “causing impaired judgment.”

Threatens Improvement of Palliative Care

There is compelling evidence that legalizing assisted suicide undermines efforts to maintain and improve good care for patients nearing the end of life, including patients who never wanted assisted suicide.

To Live Each Day with Dignity:

A Statement on Physician-Assisted Suicide

To live in a manner worthy of our human dignity, and to spend our final days on this earth in peace and comfort, surrounded by loved ones—that is the hope of each of us. In particular, Christian hope sees these final days as a time to prepare for our eternal destiny. 

Today, however, many people fear the dying process. They are afraid of being kept alive past life’s natural limits by burdensome medical technology. They fear experiencing intolerable pain and suffering, losing control over bodily functions, or lingering with severe dementia. They worry about being abandoned or becoming a burden on others. 

Our society can be judged by how we respond to these fears. A caring community devotes more attention, not less, to members facing the most vulnerable times in their lives. When people are tempted to see their own lives as diminished in value or meaning, they most need the love and assistance of others to assure them of their inherent worth. 

The healing art of medicine is an important part of this assistance. Even when a cure is not possible, medicine plays a critical role in providing “palliative care”—alleviating pain and other symptoms and meeting basic needs. Such care should combine medical skill with attention to the emotional as well as spiritual needs of those facing the end of life.

It is never too early to have honest discussions with your family, friends and/or priest about complicated end-of-life issues. Catholics should be leaders in the effort to defend and uphold the principle that each of us has a right to live with dignity through every day of our lives. As disciples of one who is Lord of the living, we need to be messengers of the Gospel of Life. We can help build a world in which love is stronger than death.

*Excerpts from a United States Catholic Conference of Bishops document by this title.
 

The New Jersey Bill A1504 would allow physician-assisted suicide in New Jersey. The vote on bill A1504, scheduled for October 29, did not occur when the sponsors learned that four legislators who were to vote in favor of the bill were absent. Absentees are as good as a no vote. It is highly probable that constituent pressure caused these absences. Please renew the pressure on your Assemblymen to vote against this bill after the election.

Reasons for Opposing A1504

Following are reasons for opposing physician assisted suicide:

• Protections for patients from coercion are inadequate.
• Assisted suicide laws are a recipe for elder abuse. Under these laws, a greedy heir or an abusive caregiver can witness the request, pick up the drugs, and either coerce a patient to take them or put them in the patient’s food. Who would know if the drugs were freely taken?
• No trained medical personnel are required to be present at the time the lethal drugs are taken or at the time of death. In fact, there is no supervision or tracking of the drugs once they leave the pharmacy.
• The definition of “terminal illness” is arbitrary and could include patients who are not dying, as has happened in Oregon. Also, a six-month prognosis is extremely difficult to predict, with many patients living far beyond the six months.
• In Oregon and California—states that already allow assisted suicide—patients have been denied payment for treatments to save their lives, but have been told that less costly, life-ending drugs would be covered. Insurance companies are in essence telling patients that it is their duty to die. Life decisions should never be about costs!
• Although many terminally ill patients are clinically depressed, there is no requirement for the patient to have a psychiatric analysis.
• Inadequate pain control is NOT the primary reason why patients in Oregon and California request lethal drugs. No pain relief consultation is required.
• The patient’s family does not have to be notified about the patient’s impending death.

Something to Think About

Physician-Assisted Suicide...What is at Stake?

Advocates for the disabled strongly oppose assisted suicide. They point to the lack of adequate safeguards, which could open the door to abuse, manipulation, and coercion.

Suicide is always a tragedy! Do not be misled by the seductive language of "dignity," "mercy," "compassion," or "aid in dying." True compassion does not put a lethal weapon—in this case a prescription of 100 capsules of Seconal—into the hands of a person to help take his or her life.

Compassionate care at the end of life should involve the loving support and involvement of family members. The NJ legislation does not require family notification.