Physician-Assisted Suicide is a complex issue. For full transparency, I admit I advocate against this concept from a very firm, pro-life basis. However, I would want anyone who reads this to know that my opposition is also based upon experience and grave public policy concerns. Allow me to go out of order and address the experiential side of this first.
In the spring of 2013, I was dealing with this topic as Maine’s legislature was once again grappling with Physician-Assisted Suicide for the second time since I had become the Director of the Christian Civic League in 2010. During the time of that particular bill’s public hearing and work sessions, my father, my hero, was struggling for his life at St. Joseph’s Hospital just an hour north of Augusta in Bangor.
His condition forced us and his caretakers to make a choice between dealing with excruciating pain or continuing to seek therapeutic options; pain management and healing could not be simultaneous. I would hurriedly drive back to the hospital after long days in Augusta to find my dad sitting up in his hospital bed, rocking back-and-forth in pain, hands lifted up toward heaven begging God to take his life. So yes, for those of you that have accused us that are against Physician Assisted Suicide of not having dealt with a loved one facing such challenges – – I certainly have.
After several days of this ordeal, my father made the decision to no longer seek therapeutic action, and he asked for palliative care. I saw my father go from agony to comfort in a very short time. That evening, he called his grandchildren and told them he loved them.
The plan was for him to go home the next day, receive hospice treatment which we anticipated would take four or five days before his death. I went home that evening and was awakened at 8:30 the next morning by my brother calling me telling me that dad had gone home to be with his Lord.
Again, for full disclosure and transparency’s sake, my mother was a dedicated hospice nurse. So one of the greatest issues I have with Physician-Assisted Suicide is the lack of education in regard to the tremendous advances hospice care, and palliative care have made in the last few years in managing pain and end of life issues.
Before I address general conceptual issues with Physician-Assisted Suicide, I want to address specific problems with the recent bill with which the Maine legislature dealt known as LD 1313. This bill narrowly passed in the Maine House by one vote and three votes in the Senate. Some legislators who had in the past supported the concept of Physician-Assisted Suicide could not bring themselves to support LD 1313. We must keep in mind, that beyond the concept, we must look at the bill and determine exactly what is being proposed.
For instance, did you know that LD 1313 would allow someone as young as 18 years old to kill themselves. That’s right, an 18-year-old can’t buy a pack of cigarettes or a six pack but can buy a deadly cocktail if LD 1313 becomes a law.
LD 1313 does not require a medical person to be present when the deadly cocktail is consumed. Someone can get the killer drugs, go home, and if any complications occur – – no one is required to be present.
LD 1313 also encourages falsification of death certificates. Let’s say someone has a condition that if not treated would result in death like diabetes or arthritis. Those conditions would qualify as terminal. If someone chose to kill themselves because of either of those conditions, suicide would not be written down as the cause of death – – the untreated condition would be.
I believe one of the strongest arguments against Physician-Assisted Suicide as a concept is the nearly universal opposition to the idea from the disability community. This group, along with those that advocate against elderly abuse, recognize that no attempt to legalize Physician-Assisted Suicide has yet to include safeguards to protect the vulnerable from being taken advantage of which changes the right to die to an obligation to die.
There are also significant social economic injustices around this topic. For instance, insurance companies have denied coverage for chemotherapy and other necessary medical treatments to individuals once Physician-Assisted Suicide was passed in their state. In 2017, we brought Stephanie Packer in from California to give testimony to Maine’s legislators. Shortly after California legalized Physician-Assisted Suicide, she received a phone call from her insurance company saying they would no longer pay for chemotherapy, but they would pay for the drugs which would take this young mother’s life. Are any of you so naïve to think that insurance companies will not take the less expensive route in these circumstances?
As great as palliative care and hospice is in Maine, we are a poor, rural state. There are many sick citizens who still do not have access to these resources, and for many of them, their only choice would be Physician-Assisted Suicide.
People like to refer to how wonderfully suicide is going in Oregon in the last 20 years. It should be noted that less than 1% of individuals that have chosen to kill themselves in Oregon have sought any type of mental health counseling. Also, individuals in Oregon have not indicated that their reason for choosing suicide is pain management. That is way down the list. The overwhelming reason people note for taking the deadly cocktail is personal autonomy.
Suicide promoters hate to hear the slippery slope argument, but the fact is there is no example of a state or country that took the first of Physician-Assisted Suicide that did not eventually move toward euthanasia. Just this last spring, proponents of suicide in Oregon promoted a bill which would allow someone other than the patient to make the decision regarding the deadly prescription. And I’m sure many of you have recently seen the horrifying news in the Netherlands where children as young as 17 can get permission to kill themselves for reasons like depression without parental consent.
As I said in the beginning, my opposition to Physician-Assisted Suicide is deeply rooted in my belief that God is the creator of life, and that we should honor life from conception to natural death. However, regardless of how strongly we may feel about this, our advocacy must be compassionate and respectful in order to be effective. In a state that is rampant with suicides from our elderly, our veterans, and with one of the highest suicide rates amongst teens in our nation, we must oppose this scourge and continue to invest in the hope and comfort offered by palliative care and effective hospice programs.
Carroll Conley, Jr., Executive Director of the Christian Civic League of Maine. and an 11th generation Mainer. He has a long history in education. During his tenure as Headmaster of Bangor Christian Schools, Carroll served as the President of the Northeast Principal’s Association and was on the Executive Committee of the Maine Principal’s Association. Carroll and his wife Terri, married since 1980, have two married sons, and five grandchildren.
