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The Daily Signal
How
California’s New Assisted Suicide Law Could Especially Hurt the Poor
Katrina Trinko
October 06, 2015
“My concern is for people who don’t have resources, who don’t have a
choice.”
“You read about Oregon denying someone a lung transplant, but, ‘Here,
you can you have these pills.’”
“That’s my fear about what this would become.”
That’s what Assemblywoman Lorena Gonzalez, a Democrat who represents
the San Diego area, told the Sacramento Bee in an interview published
in July.
Gonzalez is right to be afraid.
In theory, the California law has safeguards ensuring that suicide is
solely the patient’s choice. “Before the drugs can be prescribed, two
California doctors must agree that the person has no more than six
months to live,” reports the San Francisco Chronicle. “It is then the
patient’s choice whether to take the drugs. Those who want to must
affirm their intention 48 hours in advance and must take the drugs on
their own, without help.”
Oregon’s Example
But there are many ways to influence people, to get them to the point
where they do state that their intentions are to die. And the example
of Oregon, which enacted physician-assisted suicide in 1997, provides
plenty of reason to be concerned that people, especially those who are
low-income, are susceptible to ill-intentioned persuasion.
Dr. William Toffler, an Oregon doctor, wrote in The Wall Street Journal
in August that “the regular notices I receive indicating that many
important services and drugs for my patients—even some pain
medications—will not be covered by the Oregon Health Plan, the state’s
Medicaid program” were “concerning.”
“Yet physician-assisted suicide is covered by the state and our
collective tax dollars,” Toffler, who is also national director of
Physicians for Compassionate Care, noted. “Supporters claim
physician-assisted suicide gives patients choice, but what sort of a
choice is it when life is expensive but death is free?”
Take the case of Barbara Wagner, whom Gonzalez was likely referring to
in her remarks. Wagner was a lung cancer patient whose case attracted
national attention in 2008, after her insurance company told her it
wouldn’t cover a drug costing $4,000 a month her doctor had prescribed
but would cover the drugs required for a physician-assisted suicide,
according to ABC News. “It was horrible,” Wagner told ABC News at the
time.
“I got a letter in the mail,” she recounted, “that basically said if
you want to take the pills, we will help you get that from the doctor
and we will stand there and watch you die. But we won’t give you the
medication to live.”
Health Care Costs and Physician-Assisted Suicide
The situation in Oregon and Washington, which legalized
physician-assisted suicide in 2008, also support the worries of
Gonzalez and others about the financial incentives created by
legalizing physician-assisted suicide.
“Last year, over half the patients who committed assisted suicide in
Oregon relied on the government for their health coverage or had no
coverage at all,” wrote Richard Doerflinger, associate director of the
Secretariat of Pro-Life Activities at the U.S. Conference of Catholic
Bishops, in Public Discourse earlier this year. “Over three-quarters of
those dying under Washington’s assisted suicide law were partly or
completely dependent on Medicare or Medicaid.”
As health care costs continue to soar, physician-assisted suicide could
potentially draw more interest as a solution. Ryan T. Anderson, the
William E. Simon fellow at The Heritage Foundation, warned in a March
report about that possibility.
“Given the increasing number of elderly patients in modern societies,
their increasing longevity, and the increasing cost of treating their
chronic illnesses,” he wrote, “[physician-assisted suicide] will
increasingly be seen as a cost-effective option and one that the
elderly should be encouraged to consider.”
Other Voices Than Brittany Maynard’s
In his statement about signing the bill, Gov. Brown emphasized his
personal experience.
“In the end, I was left to reflect on what I would want in the face of
my own death,” he wrote. “I do not know what I would do if I were dying
in prolonged and excruciating pain. I am certain, however, that it
would be a comfort to be able to consider the options afforded by this
bill. And I wouldn’t deny that right to others.”
But while Brown shares the view of the late Brittany Maynard, the
29-year-old who chose to end her life after being diagnosed with
terminal brain cancer, and to speak publicly about that decision and
advocate for physician-assisted suicide legalization, others—including
those who have faced terminal illnesses—have thought differently.
“It takes a long time to come to terms with a disease, especially a
terminal illness. And then you start thinking: OK, this is new me, this
is the new normal, and I can still appreciate every moment.”
Those are the words of Maggie Karner, a 52-year-old woman who knew all
too well what she was speaking about. Karner, who also had terminal
brain cancer, was a vigorous advocate for life, fighting against
legalizing physician-assisted suicide.
Karner passed away last month. Her daughter, Mary Karner, a nurse,
wrote in The Federalist Tuesday:
I hope and pray that her legacy will continue to
inspire caring American voters to support those choosing to squeeze
life for every drop that it has to give. Support hospice and palliative
care programs that give true meaning to ‘death with dignity.’ Let those
fighting illness and disabilities know that they are precious, no
matter what. They should never have to feel for a second that they
might have a ‘duty to die’ just because the option is available.
Last year, when Maynard had announced her choice to end her life but
had not yet died, mom of four Kara Tippetts penned an open letter to
her, writing, “In your choosing your own death, you are robbing those
that love you with the such tenderness, the opportunity of meeting you
in your last moments and extending you love in your last breaths.”
Like Karner, Tippetts knew firsthand what Maynard was experiencing. She
died this March, after battling breast cancer for nearly three years.
If you are grieved by tragic stories like Maynard’s, there are ways to
help, such as fighting for better, more comfortable care for the dying.
But true compassion doesn’t end life earlier. True compassion doesn’t
create a system where people, especially those without significant
financial resources, are vulnerable to pressure to end their lives
sooner.
“Please remember patients like me who don’t want to commit suicide but
instead want our right to live out our days without the risk of abuse
or the subtle pressure to comply with state-sanctioned suicide,” Karner
said.
Patients like Karner deserved to be remembered. It’s unfortunate that
California disregarded her advice, and took a step toward becoming a
culture where only some lives are cherished.
Read this article with videos at The Daily Signal
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