The deadly and dangerous practice of assisted suicide is now legal in 11 states (Oregon, Washington, Montana, Vermont, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Main, New Jersey, New Mexico and Delaware) and Washington, DC. For years, promoters of assisted suicide have worked to advance their agenda in every state they can, referring to it as “END-OF-LIFE-CARE”.
According to a 2024 GALLUP POLL, 66% of Americans believe doctors should be allowed to assist patients commit suicide for terminal patients living in severe pain who request it. While “severe pain” is part of the narrative of why it is needed, that is actually not the reason it is typically requested in practice, and that is only one of several reasons why physician-assisted suicide should not be a solution to the problem of suffering with terminal illness.
Pain Not the Primary Issue
- While most people may view unbearable physical pain as an acceptable reason to request suicide, untreated pain is not in practice the top reason for people to utilize it, where it is legal. As an example, in a study on OREGON PATIENTS , the primary reasons for requesting death were things like “fear of poor quality of life”, “loss of independence” and the perception of being a “burden to others”. Actual pain did not hit the top five list. Contrast that WITH THIS STUDY about the first three years after Oregon permitted assisted suicide, which found that nearly half of patients who initially requested it changed their minds after being provided palliative care. Assisted suicide does nothing to help these psychological and emotional problems. It simply confirms that treatable depression is an adequate reason to end one’s life.
We Have a Profit-Driven Health Care System
- Turning assisted suicide into an acceptable method of “treatment” for illness, incentivizes our insurance system to promote what is quite obviously going to be the cheapest method of “treatment” for anyone. Some patients in OREGON AND CALIFORNIA have received word that their health insurance will pay for assisted suicide but will not pay for treatment that may sustain their lives. (Watch this QUICK VIDEO for one example.) Good palliative care, on the other hand, requires years of adequate training and a team of dedicated providers. Why spend the money on progressing that mode of treatment when the quick, easy and cheap treatment is to JUST KILL THE PATIENT?
Puts Vulnerable Persons at Risk of Abuse and Coercion
- Once assisted suicide becomes an option, the pressure to accept it naturally increases. Even in the ideal circumstance, just feeling like one is a burden coupled with being told suicide is an option, easily becomes the reason. This is especially true among the elderly and disabled. The temptation to view your own family members as a burden also increases. It undermines the entire concept of true compassion for loved ones. Of course, it also makes it much easier for those who do not have the best interest of their loved ones in mind to put undue influence on them to ask for suicide, even if the patients don’t truly want it.
There are many more reasons why legalizing assisted suicide is a bad and dangerous idea. For further information, visit USCCB.ORG/TOLIVEEACHDAY and PATIENTSRIGHTSACTION.ORG, or watch my video podcast on the topic at BEING PRO LIFE ASSISTED SUICIDE. Suicide is always a tragedy. Let us not treat some suicides as beautiful and dignified. True care for our loved ones in the dying process does not include helping them actively end their lives. Instead, let us offer true compassion and mercy, and love them where they are.