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VAEH Newsletter #3321 April 2005 Dear Folks, As you are probably aware, the national Death With Dignity organization (along with the new Compassion & Choice; former End of Life Choices; former Hemlock Society) targeted Hawaii, California and Vermont this year, pouring lots of energy, time and money into campaigns to legalize physician-assisted suicide in a second state. It has been over 10 years since they achieved their first and only success in Oregon, and they realize that their failed attempts in several other states in the intervening years require a “second domino” to fall soon if they are going to be successful in their ultimate goal of legalizing euthanasia. On February 5, after 9 hours of heated testimony on both sides, the Hawaii House Health Committee voted down H-1454 (to legalize physician-assisted suicide), effectively ending the DWD efforts in that state for this legislative session. The Hawaii Medical Association opposed the bill. On April 12, after 2 hours of debate, the California Assembly Judiciary Committee voted 5-4 to support AB-654 (to legalize physician-assisted suicide), and pass it along to the full Assembly where a vote may occur in May. The California Medical Association opposes the bill. The Vermont House Human Services Committee heard 3 hours of public testimony and nearly 12 hours of expert testimony on H-168 on April 12-14. About 350 Vermonters attended the public hearing in the House Chambers of the Statehouse on Tuesday evening. Yellow lapel stickers of opposition and blue/red stickers of support were visible in about even numbers. 67 people signed up to testify in opposition to H-168 and 57 in support. The committee called names alternately from the 2 lists and heard 23 testimonies on each side before closing the hearing at 10PM. Supporters of PAS told many stories about dfficult deaths where patients had received inadequate palliative care measures. This is of interest because even the DWD folks now admit that pain/suffering is not the issue --- the real issue is one of control. The opponents of PAS (including physicians, nurses, pharmacists, disability rights advocates, a hospice nurse and clergy) spoke of the need for improved palliative care and the inadequacies of the bill’s supposed “safe-guards”, along with concerns about abuse and expansion of the criteria. In the several Committee Room sessions, the chair and representatives continued to be fair by allowing testimony from an even number of individuals on both sides of the issue. The well-funded DWD folks brought 5 individuals from Oregon who repeatedly said “All is well with ‘Death With Dignity’ in Oregon” (they carefully avoid using the term ‘suicide’), supplemented by the familiar VT DWD leadership voices, testifying under various labels. The Vermont Alliance for Ethical Healthcare’s multiple constituencies were well represented: VT Pain Initiative, VT Organization of Nurse Leaders, VT Right to Life, American Cancer Society, VT Center for Independent Living, VT Medical Society, VT Coalition for Disability Rights, along with Bishop Angell and Rabbi Raskin and several individuals (psychiatrists, patients, nurses, and more). We had 2 individuals from out of state who volunteered to testify by telephone (Marilyn Golden, Disability Rights and Education Fund from California; Dr. Kenneth Stevens, a radiation oncologist from Oregon representing Physicians for Compassionate Care). I was unfortunately out of state all last week, but was able to give 20 minutes of testimony to the Committee on videotape on behalf of the VAEH. The chair of the House Human Services Committee and the majority of its members are on public record as favoring legalization of physician-assisted suicide. However, we have so far been able to raise sufficient concerns and ask enough unanswered questions that they have wisely said H-168 is very unlikely to come to a committee vote this year. One committee member who supports the bill even predicts that it will not pass in this biennium. On behalf of the VAEH Advisory Board and our constitutent organizations, a BIG thank you to all of you who gave up an evening to go to the public hearing in Montpelier --- isn’t democracy in action fun to watch? And a BIG, BIG thank you to the 67 of you who signed up to testify --- we appreciate your putting your concerns into words. And a BIG, BIG, BIG thank you to the 23 who were given the opportunity to testify for 2-3 minutes Tuesday night, and the 18 or so of you who had the opportunity to give 15 minutes of expert testimony to the committee. I wish we could give a collective sigh of relief. However, the unpredictability of committee agendas and the mystery of state politics leave open the possibility that more testimony may be solicited, more committee discussion might ensue, and a committee vote is still a possibility. We may yet be requesting more testimony, more letters to the editor, more e-mails to legislators. Please use every opportunity you have to talk to others about the dangers of PAS and the need for improved access to palliative care and hospice services in Vermont. I do have one immediate request: If you prepared or gave testimony and have an electronic copy of the text, would you be willing to send it to VAEH (info@vaeh.org)? We would like to collect and save them, possibly for use as future testimony, and some will be posted on our website. Thanks and keep up the good work. Bob Orr |
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