The Massachusetts Joint Public Health Committee recently reported out of committee the controversial bill (S.2745) that would legalize assisted suicide. This puts bill S.2745 one step closer to a vote.
Some residents have asked: Other states have passed it, why not us? It is important to note that, compared to the states that have passed assisted suicide laws, there have been over 300 failed attempts at legalization in the United States over the past 25 years. That includes seven times by our progressive Massachusetts legislature and an eigth time by ballot initiative, on which minorities voted no in overwhelming numbers.
Assisted suicide laws are ripe for exploitation. Consider, for example, that no witnesses are required during the time when the lethal drug is administered, and doctors must falsify the death certificate by putting the “underlying condition” rather than the direct cause of death: lethal drugs. And reporting requirements for these laws leave much to the imagination.
Proponents of assisted suicide claim there have been no abuses in 23 years of legalization in Oregon. It is unclear what more evidence of abuse these proponents need, but here is a list of just some of the abuse cases documented by the Disability Rights Education and Defense Fund. This list includes Barbara Wagner and Randy Stroup of Oregon who were denied coverage for their wanted and needed cancer treatments but offered coverage for assisted suicide drugs instead. And these are just the cases we know about – how many more cases of abuse have happened but have not been documented?
Read more at The Worcester Telegram…