D. Joy Riley, M.D., M.A.
Executive Director
Medically-assisted suicide (MAS), under a variety of names including physician-assisted suicide, is continually pushed by the group, Compassion and Choices. Other proponents include individuals who are facing a particularly difficult diagnosis or prognosis themselves, or have been asked by loved ones to seek changes in the law that would make MAS legal. It seems this last case was operative in the presentation of HB 0598 in the Tennessee State House Population Health Subcommittee on 4 March. The MAS bill (HB 0598) was summarized as creating “a process whereby an adult suffering from a terminal disease may request medication for the purpose of ending the adult’s life in a humane and dignified manner if certain requirements are met.” Reading the bill in its entirety reveals more details, of course. Reading the fine print usually does.
___________________
Several questions/concerns come to mind regarding this bill:
1) The presenter of the bill acknowledged the horror of suicide. Various members of the subcommittee agreed. But this begs a question: if suicide is such a terrible tragedy — and it is — why would the State of Tennessee want to involve even more people in it? For that is what MAS does. It involves more people in the process. According to this bill, physicians can write the prescription and even dispense the drugs themselves. Additionally, physicians are to counsel the patient “about the importance of having another person present when the patient takes the medication prescribed . . .” How many people would the State willingly involve for one person to end his or her life in “a humane and dignified manner”?
_________________
2) Under section 68-11-2416, “Authorized Actions,” it is specifically stated that “Actions taken according to this part do not, for any purpose, constitute suicide, assisted suicide under § 39-13-216, mercy killing, or criminal homicide under title 39, chapter 13, part 2.” As the saying (attributed to Lincoln) goes, you can call a lamb’s tail a fifth leg, but the lamb still has only four legs. You can call this “not suicide or assisted suicide,” but the patient still dies through acting on the physician’s provision. There is moral culpability on both sides, and on the part of anyone else involved.
___________________
3) If this is so “humane and dignified,” why would the patient be forbidden to take the medication in a public place? HB 0598 stipulated that “a governmental entity that incurs costs resulting from a person terminating the person’s life pursuant to this part in a public place has a claim against the estate of the person to recover costs and reasonable attorney fees . . .” The “costs” are not listed, but one can wonder about emergency services being called, the clean-up needed, etc., in addition to the legal fees charged.
___________________
HB 0598 was heard in the Population Health Subcommittee of the Tennessee House Health Committee. Three persons, including myself, spoke against the bill during the hearing. The bill was defeated, 8-2.
___________________
What can we learn from this? Perhaps the State of Tennessee needs to consider ramping up training and provision of palliative care. Instead of seeking to hasten the patient’s death, palliative care accepts dying as a normal process, and works to alleviate symptoms of discomfort. It is an example of what compassion literally means: “to suffer with,” not “kill the sufferer.” We also need to understand that MAS is NOT health care. Physicians are trained as healers; they should not be–legally or otherwise–turned into killers. MAS would reduce trust in the medical profession. If one has a terminal illness, how secure will s/he be when the physician writes a prescription “to help”?___________________
____________________
On another NOTE . . .
UPDATE: The direct- to- consumer genetic testing
company, 23andMe, is going through bankruptcy.
Joyce Shelton, Ph.D., alerted readers to this
possibility here. What happens to the data?
Instructions for deleting your data are given in
this NPR segment.
earing. The bill was defeated, 8-2.