Thursday, February 2, 2012

Assisted Suicide Law Sends Contradictory Message

Editor’s note: This op-ed is by Guy Page, a parent and resident of Cambridge.

http://vtdigger.org/2012/02/01/page-assisted-suicide-law-sends-contradictory-message/

In the Jan. 19 mail I received a letter from Lamoille Union High School, where my daughter is enrolled. It begins with the following sentence: “Over the last few years Vermont has seen an increase in suicide among young people.” It went on to describe a school initiative to hopefully address this awful development. I hope they are successful. All of my children have friends, or friends of friends, who have taken their own lives.

My eldest son, Tim, was a constant suicide risk through his teens. Through the wise, compassionate help of state social workers, Tim escaped his teen years alive. I can tell you that he was personally shaken by the implications, to him, of the proposed assisted suicide law several years ago. When he heard about it, my brilliant, troubled son began to shake in anger and almost despair. “Those hypocrites,” he said. “They’ve been telling me all this time that suicide is never OK.” It didn’t matter when I said the law is meant to address another set of problems – his teenaged hypocrisy-o-meter had already pegged assisted suicide as another example of “do as I say, not as I do, it’s all right for adults, not OK for kids.”

Sunday, December 25, 2011

"State can't oversee doctor assisted suicide"

http://www.burlingtonfreepress.com/article/20111222/OPINION03/112220320/Letter-State-can-t-oversee-doctor-assisted-suicide
 

In a state where there are some 300-plus uninvestigated cases of abuse of the vulnerable, I simply cannot believe that Gov. Peter Shumlin, House Speaker Shap Smith and Rep. Ann Pugh, D-South Burlington, can even contemplate pushing a bill to help the terminally ill kill themselves! Curiously they are pushing doctor-prescribed death in the name of "compassionate care."

A state government that is unable to investigate a known backlog of 300 reports of abuse and neglect of the elderly, the disabled, the sick -- and to prevent such abuse in the first place -- is demonstrably untrustworthy to safely implement doctor-prescribed death!

Pete Gummere

Friday, October 14, 2011

Law, not choice

http://www.cavalierdaily.com/2011/10/14/law-not-choice/
By Margaret Dore on October 14, 2011

I am an attorney in Washington state, where assisted suicide is legal. I am also president of Choice is an Illusion, a nonprofit corporation opposed to assisted suicide. Contrary to Alex Yahanda's article, "
The grateful dead" (Oct. 13), assisted suicide is only legal in two states: Oregon and Washington. He also leaves off its multiple problems such as elder abuse.

Last March, I did a legal analysis of two assisted suicide bills that were pending in the Vermont legislature. I had previously analyzed two similar bills introduced in 2009. None of these bills assured patient choice.

To view my most recent analysis, go to
http://www.choiceillusionvermont.org/p/2011-bills.html. To view my prior analysis, see "Physician-Assisted Suicide: A Recipe for Elder Abuse and the Illusion of Personal Choice," in the Winter 2011 edition of the Vermont Bar Journal, which is available at http://www.vtbar.org/Images/Journal/journalarticles/winter2011/PhysicianAssistedSuicide.pdf.

Margaret Dore
President, Choice is an Illusion

Wednesday, October 12, 2011

Bennington Banner: Suicide choice is an illusion

http://www.benningtonbanner.com/opinion/ci_19084377Posted: 10/10/2011 10:26:03 PM EDT
Monday October 10, 2011

This letter responds to Dr. Guerrero's letter referring to an upcoming assisted suicide bill, which he discusses in terms of providing patient choice. Last March, I did a legal analysis of two assisted-suicide bills that were pending in your legislature. I previously analyzed two similar bills introduced in 2009.

None of these bills assured patient choice or control over their deaths. For example, there was no required supervision over administration of the lethal dose. The death was not even required to be witnessed. This created the opportunity for an heir, or someone else who would benefit from the patient's death, to administer the lethal dose to the patient without his consent. Even if he struggled, who would know?


To view my most recent analysis, go here:  http://www.choiceillusionvermont.org/p/2011-bills.html To view my prior analysis, see Physician-Assisted Suicide: "A Recipe for Elder Abuse and the Illusion of Personal Choice," Vermont Bar Journal, winter 2011, available at www.vtbar.org/Images/Journal/journalarticles/winter2011/PhysicianAssistedSuicide.pdf .

Choice is an Illusion, a nonprofit corporation www.margaretdore.com  [should be www.choiceillusion.org ]

MARGARET K. DORE

Seattle, Wash.