Just how peaceful is physician-assisted suicide?
California’s judiciary committee is holding hearings on a proposed bill to legalize physician-assisted suicide. They argue that if patients are terminal and their pain is unbearable, then they should have the option to have their doctor’s help to hasten their lives.
Members of the former Hemlock society used to wear badges carrying this message: “Please let me die like a dog.” Many people have personally witnessed how peaceful euthanasia appears to be. Euthanasia is where the veterinarian injects the animal with a high dose of sedative medication. In contrast, Oregon’s present law, the Death With Dignity Act, and the proposed law in California require the patient to ingest the medications him or herself. Yet the San Francisco Chronicle quoted Dr. Bill Toffler, a co-founder of Physicians for Compassion, a Portland organization made up of doctors who are against assisted suicide, as saying, "In many of the cases, the death lingers for hours. It's not a dignified death. It's not pretty to watch somebody struggle with breathing or having irregular, shallow breathing for hours and hours on end."
Supporters of the California bill point out that the same medications are used, whether taken in a pudding by mouth by residents of Oregon, or injected by veterinarians.
Members of the former Hemlock society used to wear badges carrying this message: “Please let me die like a dog.” Many people have personally witnessed how peaceful euthanasia appears to be. Euthanasia is where the veterinarian injects the animal with a high dose of sedative medication. In contrast, Oregon’s present law, the Death With Dignity Act, and the proposed law in California require the patient to ingest the medications him or herself. Yet the San Francisco Chronicle quoted Dr. Bill Toffler, a co-founder of Physicians for Compassion, a Portland organization made up of doctors who are against assisted suicide, as saying, "In many of the cases, the death lingers for hours. It's not a dignified death. It's not pretty to watch somebody struggle with breathing or having irregular, shallow breathing for hours and hours on end."
Supporters of the California bill point out that the same medications are used, whether taken in a pudding by mouth by residents of Oregon, or injected by veterinarians.
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