Saturday, March 17, 2012

Assisted Suicide Bill is Dead!

Senator Dick Sears
[To view an analysis of the failed bill, go here]

"Death with dignity debate tabled"
By Susie Steimie, March 16, 2012

http://www.wcax.com/story/17176558/vt-lawmakers-right-to-die-bill-wont-pass

MONTPELIER, Vt. -  The death with dignity debate has been tabled and a state senator is in the hospital. The vice chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Sen. Alice Nitka, is currently in the hospital after an accident at her home Thursday. The committee was expected to vote on the controversial end of life bill Friday.

The bill would give terminally ill patients the right to end their own life. But instead of voting Friday, the chair met with Gov. Peter Shumlin to say the bill will not move.

This session marks the first hearing of the end of life bill in a Vermont Senate committee. But lawmakers say most of the work was done behind closed doors.

Reporter Susie Steimle: How much would you say politics have come into play here?

Sen. Diane Snelling: Quite a bit.

"Oh yeah, there's been some strong pressure. But there's strong pressure on a lot of bills. But this is an emotional bill; it hits everyone," said Sen. Dick Sears, D-Bennington County.

Sears is holding his ground. He said the bill would not leave his committee this session. We now know that it won't.

As a seasoned senator with the president pro-tem on his side, much of the political pressure to keep this bill from moving came from him. On the other side it came from the governor, who supports the bill.
"When you're a good friend like I am with the governor, it's hard to tell when it's friendship and when it's pressure. But I know he's disappointed with the decision," Sears said.

The committee held extensive testimony this week, which drew hundreds of Vermonters from across the state.

Snelling, who supports the bill, says she fears this gave people false hope.

"I almost wish we hadn't taken testimony, which we did take, because in a sense that gets people to think something is going to happen," said Snelling, R-Chittenden County.

Snelling wanted to send this bill out of committee without recommendation, something Sears calls "wimpy."
"Saying we voted it out without recommendation is like saying we don't have the courage to stand up for what we believe," Sears said.

"I wish that this bill could come to the floor and I've heard from many people on both sides that it's a matter of conscience, in which case, let's vote on our conscience," Snelling said.

Snelling says at this point she's accepted defeat for this session, but that doesn't mean she's giving up.
"It's a difficult issue, I know it's a difficult issue, but I didn't come here to do easy things. So it's very important to stand on the strength of my convictions," Snelling said.

Both senators say it's likely some supporters of the end of life bill will try to attach it to the health care bill, which will be voted on later this session, but neither senator believes it will pass that way. Snelling says she expects it will be back next session.

Supporters don't know if there are enough votes to pass it in the Senate. It's extremely divided. I've heard the vote could be 16-14 either way, but part of the controversy here is this is truly a Senate battle; the House is ready to pass it and the governor supports it.

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