Do the Terminally Ill Have a Right to Die?

Recommend (0) Comments (0)

The American Life League claims the proper response to terminal illness is to alleviate pain.  They also cite an American Medical Association poll from 1997 that showed that people when given “all the facts” about physician aided dying changed their minds and said they would opt for palliative care (comfort care when no cure is expected) and hospice living.  (In hospice care, no intrusive medical technology is used, but a person lives out the rest of their life in a caring, supportive and comfortable environment. )

But the American Life League’s conclusion that pain management and hospice care are the solutions for treating terminally ill patients in the last months of their lives relies on a more than 10 year old survey that was taken before the first American experience in assisted dying.  We now have 10 years worth of data from Oregon, the only state that does allow assisted dying.  What does it show? That 86% of all those who seek physician aid in dying are living in hospice care, and still choose to ask for life ending assistance. The AMA survey is a hypothetical what would you do, versus the actual and empirical findings of what real people did in the real situation.

Furthermore the AMA itself admitted in a brief before the 9th circuit Court that: “The delivery of [adequate pain relief] is 'grossly inadequate' today, and efforts to make such care universally available have not yet succeeded.” That statement was made ten years ago, so one can assume we’ve made some progress there. Yet in the one state we have experience with physician aided dying, for most patients, ending pain wasn’t the main issue.

Most people in Oregon who asked for physician aid in dying, cited loss of autonomy, less ability to engage in life enjoying activities, and loss of dignity as the top reasons for wanting to end their lives.  Who are any of us to insist that a terminally ill person in the last stages of life must stay alive when they no longer can live in a way that is at all fulfilling? What, keep them alive to make others feel better?  That’s not very loving if you ask me.

As for the issue of inhumanity. How can it be humane to put a horse or a cat or dog down but not to provide that same option for a person who can no longer live a meaningful life and no longer wants to?