Theresa Schrempp Letter to the Boston Globe: "Even the composition of the photo is the same"

Dear Editor:

I am a lawyer in Washington State where assisted suicide was unfortunately legalized by an initiative in 2008.  I couldn't help but notice that your article promoting a similar initiative in Massachusetts follows the same template as articles that ran here.  Even the composition of the photo is the same.  ["Dying Wishes, April 29, 2012]

Benedetto Letter to Boston Globe

Dear Editor:

My wife and I operate an elder care facility in Washington State where assisted-suicide is legal.  I am writing to urge your readers to vote against assisted-suicide.

Washington's law was passed by a ballot measure in November 2008.  Four days after the election, an adult child of one of our clients asked about getting "them pills" (to kill the father). It wasn't the father saying that he wanted to die.

Since the act passed, we have also noticed that some members of the medical profession are quick to bring out the morphine to begin comfort care without considering treatment.  Sometimes they do this on their own without telling the client and/or the family member in charge of the client's care.

I have also observed that some medical professionals are quick to write off older people as having no quality of life whereas in years past, most of the professionals we dealt with found joy in caring for them. Our clients reciprocated that joy and respect.

Someday, we too will be old. I, personally, want to be cared for and have my choices respected. I, for one, am quite uncomfortable with these developments.  I hope that you can prevent assisted suicide.

Juan Carlos Benedetto

Boston Globe: Philip Moran & Karen Schneiderman

May 13, 2012  http://articles.boston.com/2012-05-13/magazine/31664040_1_human-life-physicians-suicide

ON DEATH AND DYING

“Dying Wishes” in the April 29 Globe Magazine refers to “Death with Dignity” instead of what it really is: “physician-assisted suicide.” As stated by then chief justice William Rehnquist in the 1997 case of Washington v. Glucksberg, “An examination of our Nation’s history, legal traditions, and practices demonstrates that Anglo American common law has punished or otherwise disapproved of assisted suicide for over 700 years.” He goes on to state that there are at least five government interests to support that history.  They are prohibiting killing and preserving human life; preventing the serious public health problem of suicide, especially among the young, the elderly, and those suffering from untreated pain or depression; protecting the medical profession’s integrity; protecting the poor, elderly, disabled, and persons in other vulnerable groups from pressure to end their lives; and avoiding a possible slide toward voluntary and even involuntary euthanasia. I submit these are more than sufficient reasons to vote “No” on this ballot question.
Philip D. Moran / Salem 

With fear and rage I respond to the article “Dying Wishes.” A ballot question? The idea of people voting on the worth of a human being is sickening, but my greatest fear has to do with the notion that if a person chooses to request assistance dying, that person is clearly depressed. During such depression it is impossible to make a clear decision. We all have such periods, sick or not, but almost always, with time or therapy or medication or support, that feeling goes away. As a person with a lifelong disability, I have had serious health crises and wished to terminate my life, but I have been fortunate to have medical care and family and friends to help me through my struggles. Those who are not so fortunate rely on the medical establishment. For those of us with disabilities and for elderly folks, our value in this society is already less significant, and we need to rely on physicians to help keep us alive, rather than kill us in the name of compassion.
Karen Schneiderman / Jamaica Plain

Washington State's Annual Report: No Information About Consent

By Margaret Dore

Washington assisted suicide act is similar to the proposed assisted suicide initiative in Massachusetts.[1]  


Washington's act was enacted via a ballot initiative in 2008 and went into effect in 2009.[2]  During the election, proponents claimed that its passage would ensure individuals control over their deaths.  A glossy brochure declared, "Only the patient — and no one else — may administer the [lethal dose]."[3]  The Act, however, does not say this anywhere.


Today, the Washington State Department of Health issued its annual report about Washington's act.[4]  That report, similarly, does not demonstrate that individuals are in control. The report provides no information as to whether the people who died under the act consented and/or acted voluntarily at the time of death.  The report instead talks about "ingestion" of the lethal dose.  A drug can be "ingested" while a person is asleep, sedated and/or not aware of his or her surroundings.


For more information about Washington's act, See Margaret Dore, "'Death with Dignity': What Do We Advise Our Clients?," Bar Bulletin, May 2009.[5]  

* * *

[1]  See RCW 70.245.010 et seq.
[2]  Washington's act was passed by in November 2008 as Initiative 1000 and was now been codified as RCW chapter 70.245.
[3]   I-1000 color pamphlet, "Paid for by Yes! on 1000."
[4]  See News Release here and report here.
[5]  Further information can be viewed here.

Meeting Against Assisted Suicide, Sat, May 19th!

Second Thoughts is a disability rights group opposed to the assisted suicide initiative.  Second Thoughts will be holding an educational and organizational meeting on Saturday, May 19, 2 PM-4:30 PM, at the Cambridge Senior Center In Central Sq., Cambridge. 

The meeting will be in the  first floor "ballroom," no elevator necessary.  For more information: info@second-thoughts.org 

Cambridge Citywide Senior Center
806 Massachusetts Avenue
Cambridge, MA 02139

(617) 349-6060 for directions only

Not Dead Yet: A Deeper Look at Elderly Homicide-Suicides

From Not Dead Yet:  "society cannot lose sight of the fact that a person's life was taken, often without their consent." 

May 1, 2012

Last September, this blog discussed an article from a Pennsylvania newspaper that took a thoughtful, in-depth look at the tragically growing trend of elderly homicide/suicides.  When that story was written, there had been three such cases in the state since June of that year.

The number is now up to at least 6 in the last year.  Terrie Morgan-Besecker takes another in-depth look at elderly homicide/suicides and interviews a number of people about the larger picture (including me) to get beyond the 'mercy killing' theme that dominates the coverage of these tragedies.

An excerpt that includes a bit from my interview is below.  From TheAbington Journal, here is a sample of 'Loved to Death': 

But researchers who have studied murder-suicides among the elderly say they're troubled by society's tendency to view such deaths as mercy killings.

"One of the concerns is you don't want to make it sound like it's a viable thing to do," said Sonia Salari, a professor in the Department of Family and Consumer Studies at the University of Utah."  If we romanticize it, it makes it sound like it's OK."

Statistics regarding the number of elderly murder-suicides committed each year are difficult to come by, as no agency specifically tracks that category of deaths, Salari said.

In a 2005 study, Salari analyzed 225 intimate partner murder-suicides involving couples where either the victim or perpetrator was at least age 60. She gathered the data from news reports, police reports and obituaries published from 1999 to 2005.

The research showed that in 55 percent of the cases, health issues   involving either the victim or perpetrator were cited as a contributing factor. Approximately 7.5 percent of the victims had some sort of dementia.

Compassion or murder?

Salari said that, while she sympathizes with survivors who view the deaths as an act of compassion, society cannot lose sight of the fact that a person's life was taken, often without their consent.

"Some people don't consider it domestic violence, but we need to see it as that," she said. "You have two deaths. Most of the time the victim is not in on the plan."

Stephen Drake, a spokesman for Not Dead Yet, a nonprofit group that opposes assisted suicide laws, also expressed concern over how murder-suicides among the elderly are viewed.

"These are acts usually of desperation, not compassion," he said. "These are people who are feeling depressed or overwhelmed. It's often a consequence of an emotional crisis."

Please read the rest of the article here.  --Stephen Drake