VAEH Newsletter #29

February 7, 2005

Hi Folks,

Good news from Hawaii. At a hearing last Saturday (Feb 6), the Hawaii House Health Committee voted down the proposed “Death With Dignity” bill. I’m told this means the Hawaii PAS bill is dead for this year.

Mixed news from Oregon. It is good that the number of physician-assisted suicides in 2004 may be only 35 (down from 42 in 2003). The bad part of the news is that this report comes, not from the Oregon Health Division, but from Compassion in Dying, the organization that promotes PAS and actively assists patients with their suicides. This number was reported during the Hawaii testimony, along with the fact that CID assisted in 29 of the 35 suicides. The fact that CID is aware of the 6 suicides they did not assist with before the OHD releases its 2004 report fuels the speculation among Oregonians that there is collusion between CID and the state government. I don’t generally put a lot of weight in conspiracy theories, but it does seem very strange that the proponents of PAS in Oregon have an inside track with the official government data collectors.

Mixed news also from Montpelier. The bad news is that the PAS bill has been introduced. The good news is that it only has 3 sponsors this year, as opposed to about 25 last year --- I’m not sure what that means yet. The text of H-168 is available at: http://www.leg.state.vt.us/docs/legdoc.cfm?URL=/docs/2006/bills/intro/H-168.HTM On cursory reading it looks much like last year’s effort with the following exceptions: deletion of the requirement that the patient requesting a lethal prescription show proof of Vermont residency; changing the wording so that the physician need not “recommend” that the patient notify his family, only that he or she “request” this be done; expansion of the section authorizing health care facilities to sanction “providers” who provide lethal prescriptions in spite of facility policy prohibiting this, but with ample provision for that same “provider” to do so outside his official capacity with the institution; addition of a section on “Liabilities and Penalties” (it cites existing penalties in section 1351 of Title 13, but that section has been repealed according to “Vermont Statutes On-Line”).

Thanks to contributions from several of you, VAEH was able to extend our contract with our lobbyist through the end of February. Let’s hope this bill is laid to rest for this year by then. He has been very helpful in making important contacts with legislators and in organizing our multiple contact lists so that we can mobilize opposition to the PAS bill in various parts of the state if that becomes necessary.

Thanks also to several of you who have written letters to legislators and to newspapers. We all really appreciate your involvement.

Bob Orr, President, Vermont Alliance for Ethical Healthcare