Oregon-Style Initiative Comes to Washington, Again
BY ELENOR K. SCHOEN
REGISTER CORRESPONDENT
February 17-23, 2008 Issue |
Posted 2/12/08 at 11:22 AM
OLYMPIA, Wash. — Washington State activists have tried twice
to make their state the second in America to allow legal physician-assisted
suicide. But since 1997, Oregon has been the only U.S. state where it is legal.
Booth Gardner wants to try again.
The 71-year-old former Washington governor, suffering from
Parkinson’s disease, said Jan. 9 that getting the necessary 225,000 signatures
by July would be his “last campaign.”
When he filed a physician-assisted suicide initiative to be
placed on the November ballot, he stated it is “the right thing to do; the
Christian thing to do.”
The Catholic Church would disagree with him. The Compendium
of the Catechism says (in No. 470): “The fifth commandment forbids as gravely
contrary to the moral law … suicide and voluntary cooperation in it,
insofar as it is a grave offense against the just love of God, of self, and of
neighbor.”
Gardner is modeling the bill after Oregon’s assisted-suicide
legislation, allowing terminally ill patients the ability to kill themselves
with the help of a lethal prescription. Parkinson’s is not considered a
terminal illness, though, and Gardner would not be eligible under the bill.
His primary sponsor, Compassion and Choices Washington, a
state chapter of the renamed Hemlock Society, has created the coalition “It’s
My Choice.” The non-profit has raised $319,000, and is hoping to amass a war
chest of around $5 million.
It has the support of a number of sympathetic organizations,
including the American Civil Liberties Union.
But even with support from major organizations, and
impressive financial gains early in the campaign, Gardner’s effort is not
winning instant approval, starting with his own son, who disapproves of his
father’s involvement.
Current Gov. Christine Gregoire, though sympathetic to the
former governor’s health problems, finds it “very, very difficult to support
assisted suicide.”
The Washington State Medical Association officially opposes
the initiative, according to spokeswoman Jennifer Hanscom. She explained that
the organization “looks at it from the standpoint of how care should be
improved at the end of life so people aren’t forced to make that decision.”
Other medical associations against the initiative include
the Washington Hospice and Palliative Care Organization and the Washington
State Hospital Association.
Washington was the first state in the country to have an
assisted-suicide initiative, which was defeated in 1991 with a well-organized
campaign. The lessons learned there helped stop similar legislation in
California and other states. It also prompted the American Medical Association
to start continuing education courses for physicians in pain management and
palliative care.
Legislation for physician-assisted suicide has failed in 25
states, often repeatedly, since 1991. This year it has reappeared for the sixth
consecutive year in the Arizona Legislature, and in Wisconsin’s Legislature for
the 16th time. Neither bill is expected to be made into law anytime soon.
The “Coalition Against Assisted Suicide” is now working to
raise funds and awareness across the state. Its members include disability
rights advocates, physicians, nurses, hospice workers, minority groups,
religious organizations and other concerned citizens.
Coalition spokesman Duane French is a quadriplegic who heads
the Washington chapter of Not Dead Yet. Paralyzed by a diving accident as a
teenager, French believes that such an initiative “opens the door for abuses.”
He said recently: “I have experienced discrimination and I
know assisted suicide, if it becomes legal, will be another way of
discriminating against people with disabilities with deadly consequences.”
In contrast to Gardner’s mantra: “My life, my death, my
control,” French believes that “voters in Washington state care too much about
equality to judge whose life is ‘worth’ living and whose isn’t.”
But Compassion and Choices’ Executive Director Robb Miller
believes that physician-assisted suicide offers patients peace of mind.
He said: “We believe in aggressive care and offer comfort
for patients, [knowing] that if things become unbearable, they have the option
to decide how and when to die. We know people get a lot of comfort if they have
this option.”
Father Robert Siler, spokesman for Bishop Carlos Sevilla of
Yakima, argues that assisted suicide is anything but comforting. He was quoted
in a January article in the Yakima Herald saying that: “This is an assault on
the dignity of human life. We should allow people to die a natural death and
help them with appropriate pain control and what measures are necessary.”
Elenor K. Schoen writes from
Shoreline, Washington.
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