I Oppose

I am with Joel in his opposition to the assited suicide/death with dignity act.

I believe that we all have an innate right to suicide. Indeed, such a right seems to me to be intrinsic to a society that largely accepts the Jesus story of a man-god who chose suicide.

However, I do not believe that physicians shuld be authorized to kill.

The dangers of relaxing our traditions in this regard are obvious. Put crassly, the old, sick and poor cost us money. One does not need to imagine a conscious policy of eliminating these people to be worried.

Imagine two 67 yo (my age)

George Bromwell, a prominent investor and successful blogger, decides that his MS is no longer bearable. He approaches a suicide doctor who initiates counseling. The counselor evokes Georges wife and kids, the popularity of his blog, etc.

Isaac Washington, after 20 years in prison, is released out of compassion for his MS. Isaac adapts poorly to the loneliness outside life. He approaches a suicide doctor who initiates counseling. The counselor has a lot of clients like Isaac and the doctor is very busy.

I will let others finish the stories.

I also think that Lee and other advocates fail t tell us how common a problem this really is and who is faced with the problem? How many Georges and Isaacs now can not get the help they need. Surely George can find some doc willing to give him morphine to escape pain. Isaac is more likely to have trouble finding such a pleasant answer to his problems but the moral dilemma raised by the all to common Isaac examples seems to me to be overwhelming.

Finally, I assume proponents of I-1000 are aware that physicians NOW have the right to help patients choose life promoting therapies vs. therapies that shorten life? Patients with terminal disease often suffer a lot and they, their families and their physicians make decisions about how aggressively to treat the suffering, even when that treatment means the pt's life will be shortened.

Although I have not to practice medicine now in decades, one reason I chose research over practice was that this decision was just to hard for me. I greatly admire my colleagues who have to help patients through this =stage of life and would hope we could all keep that process out of the courts pf law.