Just Die, Please
Opponents of Washington state’s Initiative 1000 to legalize doctor-assisted suicide warn it would induce insurance companies to push patients to take death-dealing drugs.
That’s exactly what happened to one woman in neighboring Oregon, the only state where assisted suicide is legal.
Barbara Wagner, 64, recently learned that her lung cancer was no longer in remission. But when she asked her health plan to pay for an anti-cancer treatment, it declined and suggested assisted suicide as an alternative.
“It was horrible,” Wagner told ABCNews.com. “I got a letter in the mail that basically said if you want to take the pills, we will help you get that from the doctor and we will stand there and watch you die. But we won’t give you the medication to live.”
— Tom McFeely
