Some state lawmakers want to legalize assisted suicide in Minnesota. The so-called “End-of-Life Option Act” (H.F. 1930 / S.F. 1813) would authorize a doctor to prescribe a lethal drug overdosein order for a patient to intentionally end his or her own life. This bill poses grave dangers to members of our society. Here are some of its fatal flaws.
Coercion and abuse:
Assisted suicideopens upnew avenues for pressure, coercion, and abuse. The billdoes not require that anyone witness the death—there are no safeguards at all once the lethal drug has been dispensed. Someone else could administer the drug without the patient’s consent, and no one would ever know.
In Oregon and Washington, the first two states to legalize assisted suicide, prescribing physicians generally are not present when the lethal dose is administered (according to data from those states’ health departments). There is no guarantee that patients are competent or acting freely at the time of death.And a large percentage of patients seeking assisted suicidesay they feel like a “burden” on family and friends.
Neglect of the mentally ill:
The billdoes not require that a patient undergo psychiatric evaluation before receiving the lethal prescription. (The decision to refer for evaluation is left to the prescribing physician.) Yet as a study published in the American Journal of Psychiatry concluded, "The desire for death in terminally ill patients is closely associated with clinical depression—a potentially treatable condition—and can also decrease over time."
In Oregon and Washington, hardly any assisted suicide patients ever receive counseling. A British Medical Journalstudy of patients in Oregon found that "the current practice of the Death with Dignity Act may fail to protect some patients whose choices are influenced by depression from receiving a prescription for a lethal drug." Suffering people deserve treatment and support, not suicide.
Mistaken prognoses:
Assisted suicideencourages patients who would live for months, years, or even decades to throw their lives away. The bill says that only patients with a prognosis of six months or less are eligible, but such predictions are inexact and often mistaken. In both Oregon and Washington, some patients receiving lethal prescriptions have gone on to live for years. Moreover, the bill’s definition of “terminal illness” does not exclude chronic conditions that would only cause death if left untreated. A person with diabetes, who simply needs insulin to live, could qualify for assisted suicide under the legislation.
Discrimination against the disabled:
Assisted suicide is discriminatory. Our society seeks to prevent suicide in general, but assisted suicide laws carve out an exception. They create a double standard according to which some peoplereceive suicide prevention while others receive suicide assistance.This sends the harmful and discriminatory message that the lives of disabled, sick, and dependent people are less "dignified" and less worth protecting than the lives of everyone else. That's why many disability rights organizations strongly oppose the legalization of assisted suicide.
No one should be excluded from protection and care.
It's not about choice or suffering:
Assisted suicide is unnecessary. It is already legal to decline unwanted medical treatment and allow the dying process to take its course. And everyone has the right to good palliative and hospice care (including, if dying in pain, palliative sedation). Concern about pain is not a major reason cited by patients who have assistedsuicides in places where it is legal. (In Oregon and Washington, it is not even among the top five reasons, according to the state reports.)
Certainly, disease and disability involve real difficulties and fears. But the solution to these problems is not suicide. The solution is to provide the support and medical care that patients need, including mental health care and quality palliative care.
Contact your lawmakers
Assisted suicide endangers all of us. It would move Minnesota backward—from a place of compassion and care to one of exclusion and abandonment.