Dear Senator,
I have been a professor of family medicine and a practicing
physician in Oregon for more than 30 years. I write to provide some insight on
the issue of assisted suicide, which is legal in Oregon, and which has been
proposed for legalization in California (SB 128, which seeks to pass an
Oregon-style assisted suicide bill).
Oregon’s law applies to “terminal” patients who are predicted to have less than six months to live. In practice, this idea of “terminal” has recently become stretched to include people with chronic conditions, such as “chronic lower respiratory disease” and “diabetes”. Persons with these conditions are considered terminal if they are dependent on their medications, such as insulin, to live. They are unlikely die in less than six months unless they don’t receive their medications. Such persons, with treatment, could otherwise have years or even decades to live.
This illustrates a great problem with our law — it encourages people with years to live, to throw away their lives.
Oregon’s law applies to “terminal” patients who are predicted to have less than six months to live. In practice, this idea of “terminal” has recently become stretched to include people with chronic conditions, such as “chronic lower respiratory disease” and “diabetes”. Persons with these conditions are considered terminal if they are dependent on their medications, such as insulin, to live. They are unlikely die in less than six months unless they don’t receive their medications. Such persons, with treatment, could otherwise have years or even decades to live.
This illustrates a great problem with our law — it encourages people with years to live, to throw away their lives.