Assisted Suicide: A Recipe for Elder Abuse and the Illusion of Personal Choice

The original version of this article was published in The Vermont Bar Journal, Winter 2011.  

Bill Peace ("Bad Cripple") Center

By Margaret K. Dore, Esq.

Elders and people with disabilities

are, as a group, at a high risk for

violence, abuse, and exploitation.

- Vermont Center for Crime Victim Services [1]

Introduction

In 2009, a legislative proposal to legalize physician-assisted suicide in Vermont was introduced, but not brought to a vote.[2] The proposal was modeled on Oregon’s assisted suicide act.[3] Oregon is one of just two states where assisted suicide is legal. In Vermont, proponents have indicated that they will be backing a similar proposal in the 2011 legislative session.[4]

Physician-Assisted Suicide

The American Medical Association (AMA) defines physician-assisted suicide as follows: "Physician-assisted suicide occurs when a physician facilitates a patient’s death by providing the necessary means and/or information to enable the patient to perform the life-ending act (e.g., the physician provides sleeping pills and information about the lethal dose, while aware that the patient may commit suicide)."[5]

The AMA rejects assisted suicide.[6] Assisted suicide is also opposed by disability rights groups such as the Disability Rights Education and Defense Fund, and Not Dead Yet.[7]