My mother had a beautiful rose garden in the backyard of our house when I was growing up. When I got to be old enough she would ask me to help her pull the weeds in the rose garden so that the roses would thrive. I didn’t particularly enjoy weeding but I saw that we had to be persistent with it. Otherwise the weeds would overrun the rose garden. I think that this is a good analogy for what we need to do with Physician-Assisted Suicide (PAS): keep weeding it out of our lives. It looks like PAS is going to be an issue in the coming session of the Maryland General Assembly. Activists from outside the State will be back again trying to persuade our legislators to pass a Physician-Assisted Suicide bill. On February 28, 2020, I went to Annapolis to testify against the “End of Life Options Act” (Senate Bill 701/House of Delegates Bill 643). Since this issue is likely to be taken up again by the Maryland General Assembly, let me go over some of the reasons why I think physician-assisted suicide is a really bad idea. I am relying on some points provided by the Maryland Catholic Conference to make this point. Here are some things we should consider: What actually happens in a physician-assisted suicide? A doctor prescribes a lethal drug cocktail—up to 100 pills—that a person picks up at the local pharmacy, grinds up into half a cup of water, and drinks in less than two minutes. Sometimes the person can take hours or days to die. Plus, there are no requirements for a witness or notification of family. Assisted suicide isn’t dignified. It is deadly. Physician-assisted suicide incentivizes denying cancer treatments. In states where physician-assisted suicide is legal, insurance companies have turned down coverage for cancer treatment but have offered to pay for assisted suicide drugs instead. As a cancer survivor who has had very expensive but life-saving therapy that was largely covered by insurance, I don’t where I would be today if the insurance company had denied to provide coverage for my chemo immunotherapy. Physician-assisted suicide urges suicide for the elderly. Elderly in Maryland have a higher rate of suicide than any other age group—double the teen suicide rate. Yet a proposed physician-assisted suicide bill would not require any mental health evaluations to screen for depression. Assisted suicide isn’t dignified. It is deadly. Physician-assisted suicide tells people they’re burdensome. In Oregon, data show the people request suicide drugs not for pain, but because they can’t do the same activities that they could before, can’t control bodily functions, feel they’ve lost dignity or feel they are a burden. Suicide drugs aren’t the answer. Everyone deserves loving, supportive care, affirmation of their dignity, and to know that they are never a burden.
Physician-assisted suicide is dangerous for Maryland. If assisted-suicide became legal, up to 100 pills would be given to a person. These lethal drugs would then be dispensed at your neighborhood pharmacy. Data show that where assisted suicide is legal, up to 40% of the drugs are never used—and there are no requirement for their disposal. They could end up in the hands of kids, in the trash, or in a local creek or pond. We don’t need that in Maryland. Disability rights activists oppose physician-assisted suicide. Major disability rights groups including The Arc of Maryland and the National Council on Disability oppose physician-assisted suicide. Disabled people already face prejudice from doctors and people who assume they are “better dead than disabled.” Assisted suicide encourages this kind of prejudice. People with disabilities deserve care, not suicide. Doctors oppose physician-assisted suicide. The American Medical Association (AMA), American Psychiatric Association, and dozens of other medical groups oppose physician-assisted suicide. The AMA says, “Physician-assisted suicide is fundamentally incompatible with the physician’s role as healer.” Physicians are entrusted with saving lives, not ending them. Marylanders deserve excellent pain management, not physician-assisted suicide. Maryland has excellent, modern palliative care programs to alleviate suffering—no one’s pain should be unmanageable in our state. Hospice care is paid for by Medicare, Medicaid, and private insurance. Marylanders deserve the best in pain management and quality care, not suicide drugs. A final point for today: join the Maryland Catholic Advocacy Network. Our state’s General Assembly creates laws that affect us, our church, families, and vulnerable neighbors. The Maryland Catholic Advocacy Network keeps you informed and give you a voice. If you join, you will receive occasional email updates from the Maryland Catholic Conference, plus action alerts on topics you choose: mdcatholi.org/joincan or text CATHOLIC to 443-764-8765. Until next week, Fr. John