RSSNew initiative sparks end-of-life debate
By Brad Shannon , The Olympian, Jan. 14, 2008
Former Gov. Booth Gardner and allies filed an initiative Wednesday that would let doctors prescribe lethal medications for terminally ill patients to help end their lives and suffering.
Gardner said Jack Kevorkian no longer casts a shadow over "Death with Dignity" campaigns, as he did in 1991.
"The initiative is a compassionate, reasonable measure," said Gardner, who called it "my last campaign."
Gardner has Parkinson's disease, which has slowed his speech. He would not be eligible to use the powers in the measure because he is not terminally ill.
He was joined by a retired Methodist minister, a doctor and two women who spoke of their own relatives' deaths — one who was assisted by Oregon's law and one who wasn't.
The forces behind the "It's My Decision" campaign face opposition, including from Gardner's son, Doug. The son said he does not intend to be a formal part of the campaign against the initiative but has religious objections to the measure.
The leader of the Coalition Against Assisted Suicide is Democratic Sen. Margarita Prentice of Renton, a retired nurse. The coalition includes doctors, hospice workers and disability activists. They say the measure would provide a subtle encouragement for suicide and could put pressure on disabled people and others to end their lives prematurely.
Both sides were packed into the lobby of the Secretary of State's Office, where Death with Dignity backers filed their petition. The backers need 225,000 valid voter signatures by July 4 to qualify for the November ballot; they say they have 1,000 volunteers but won't rule out paid help if needed.
Two activists in wheelchairs, Duane French of Lacey and Joelle Brouner of Olympia, spoke against the law in a news conference that followed the one featuring Gardner.
French and Brouner said the law could create a coercion for some disabled people who are faced with difficulty getting palliative, or non-curative, care. French said some could be pressured by family or by economic forces into taking their lives.
"This will not serve patients well," said Dr. Patricia O'Halloran, who said the state medical association is against doctor-assisted suicide. She said the vast majority of people who would use the option are depressed, and Dr. Susan Rutherford of Redmond said she more than once has refused requests for life-ending medication from patients.
Others said it has protections to avoid abuses, including a requirement that two people attest to the afflicted person's competence to make the decision about hastening his or her death and that two doctors examine the patient to verify the condition.
Backers insisted on a careful wording to describe their proposal, calling it "aid in dying" and not assisted suicide. In campaign materials they said "lawmakers and physicians are increasingly recognizing there is a distinction between the act of suicide and the informed decision of a competent adult to hasten the dying process."
About two-dozen states have rejected such laws, but Oregon voters approved theirs in 1994. It took effect in 1997, surviving several legal challenges, and the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the law in 2006.
Julie McMurchie said her mother, Peggy Sutherland, had cancer and died in Portland last year, assisted by Oregon's law. Sutherland's pain was extreme, her bodily functions were failing, and she asked for relief, McMurchie said.
"Having this choice at the end of her life gave my mom great comfort," McMurchie said. "She was able to die on her own terms, surrounded by family and loved ones, clear and certain in her decision."
Nancy Niedzielski of Lynnwood said she pledged to her dying husband, Randy, that she would work for such a law in Washington. He died of brain cancer in 2000 after suffering horribly and "did not feel Washington state had the right to tell him how long he had to suffer."
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The greatest human freedom is to live, and die, according to one's own desires and beliefs. The most common desire among those with a terminal illness is to die with some measure of dignity. From advance directives to physician-assisted dying, death with dignity is a movement to provide options for the dying to control their own end-of-life care.
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