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Washington Initiative #1000: Assisted Suicide

AIR DATE: Tuesday, October 14th 2008
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What end-of-life options should be available to people with a terminal illness?

For ten years, Oregonians with terminal diseases who meet certain qualifications have had the option of ending their lives with a physician's assistance. Oregon is the first and only state to have put such a law on the books. That may change this November.

Washington Initiative 1000, if passed, would give Washington residents diagnosed as terminally ill the legal option to end their lives with a doctor's assistance. The law would have caveats similar to those in the Oregon statute: it would only be available to patients with six months or less left to live and they would need to seek counseling about their decision. Opponents of the initiative call it assisted suicide. Proponents say "death with dignity" is a choice terminally ill people should have.

Are you an Oregonian whose personal experience has shaped your views on this issue? Do you live in Washington? What options do you think should be available to people with a terminal illness?

GUESTS:

Tagged as: 2008 election · dying · initiative 1000 · law · washington

As an Oregonian I was extremely proud of my state when they passed this law.

I believe that all terminally ill patients, who meet the qualifications, have the right to end their life with a physician's assistance. I think it is the ultimate display of empathy as a state to realize that none of us truly understand what it would be like to be terminally ill and facing the next few hours, days or months of life...that is dying.

All terminally ill people should have the final decision of 'when'. I can imagine that so much power must feel stripped from a person when their body is taken over by an life-threatening untreatable illness. I know that if I was terminally ill and knew that my end was near, I would want the option of 'when' my death would be a reality for me, to give me peace of mind as well as offer peace of mind for my partner and for my daughter.

I hope that Washington does the right thing and makes this law a reality as well.
cl.cuff —
As an Oregonian I was extremely proud of my state when they passed this law.

I believe that all terminally ill patients, who meet the qualifications, have the right to end their life with a physician's assistance. I think it is the ultimate display of empathy as a state to realize that none of us truly understand what it would be like to be terminally ill and facing the next few hours, days or months of life...that is dying.

All terminally ill people should have the final decision of 'when'. I can imagine that so much power must feel stripped from a person when their body is taken over by an life-threatening untreatable illness. I know that if I was terminally ill and knew that my end was near, I would want the option of 'when' my death would be a reality for me, to give me peace of mind as well as offer peace of mind for my partner and for my daughter.

I hope that Washington does the right thing and makes this law a reality as well.
cl.cuff —
As a Nurse Practitioner in Geriatrics,I am frequently asked about the Assisted Suicide issue. In our culture, we spend months, (maybe years) planning the delivery of our babies (natural birth? pain meds? Midwife?) but we don't spend a lot of time planning our deaths. While I have mixed feelings about Assisted Suicide, the issue highlights the importance of planning for this important event, communicating our desires to our families, and working with a provider who will confidently walk this path with us.
ALindauer —
The circle of life is not really a continuum. It begins with birth and ends with death yet most people have no concrete plan for death, especially when it is foreseeable as in the case of terminal illness. As a nurse with many years of experience dealing with the dying I believe there is no greater loss of dignity and independence than not having the ability to say "enough" and being able to end ones own life on their own terms. Whenever this issue arises I think of one woman in particular who begged and pleaded for me to give her an overdose. Her exact words were: can you PLEASE give me something to take me out? She did not die for weeks and nothing we gave her could control her pain. Hers is a request made to me many times over the years. If medicine or technology could save these people we would not need to have this law. Since Oregon passed the Death With Dignity Act we have not become a mecca for the dying and terminally ill people have not flocked to this state as many opponents predicted. Furthermore, one of the first reviews of the use of the law revealed that a good number of these patients never even exercised the option after qualifying. It has not been demonstrated that anyone was forced to use it or that it has been used improperly. I reject religious arguments as interference with individual choice and responsibility. In my opinion one day people will look back and accuse us of having committed abuse toward the terminally ill before these laws came into being.
Dr Loco —
Why in the world are OREGON interests funding nearly 80% of the "yes on 1000" campaign in WA ? We (WA) are really quite capable of making informed decisions given concise data, and I trust the electorate who actually intellectually pursues the facts will make the right decision without the need for foreign propaganda (and wasteful spending). While our current non-elected governor embraces the "Me Too" philosophy of the "Left Coast" (Witness CARB and the recent federal environmental lawsuits), it does not mean the citizens of WA are so inclined. It is fine that OR has their prized possession of 'Assisted Suicide' but no need to propagate, there is plenty of space in the PNW for persons of other persuasions. Thank goodness 'the right' has a single glimmer of hope through one lonely billboard on I-5 at Exit 72 in Chehalis, WA. Thanks Al Hamilton R.I.P., though he did have to suffer in old age...

The day I turned age 18 I was awarded custody of an ailing parent and provided elder care for the next 32 yrs, making end of life decisions several times for this parent (who always pulled through after several days in ICU), as well as decisions and hospice care for several other elderly and ill we have cared for. This issue is really much bigger than YOUR personal agenda, please allow us (WA) to make our personal choice.

No on OR funding the yes on 1000 campaign.
jwswamp —
My dearly loved mother died on September 1st, 2007. She was smart,self-aware,still pretty,funny, happy and 83 years old. She also had been unable to breathe for 9 months. Gathered around her that morning on the sunny deck of our Portland home were all of her adult chidren who were there to speak of her life and her death and her love. She received calls from all of her grandchildren living out of the state. She promised them that her spirit would do a "fly by" when she died at 1:00pm that day.

My mother lived with my husband and me for 9 months in our care assisted by wonderful hospice nurses and social worker. Her COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease...also commonly called enphysema) had increasingly diminished her ability to breathe in ways visible to all of us who cared for and loved her. In the beginning month of hospice care she asked to begin the lengthy process of applying to the Death With Dignity process...."for the peace of mind of knowing I have a choice if I need it. I don't know if I will use it, but I want it in place." This required a lot of physical and emotional effort and determination on her part,frankly, to visit the required 3 separate doctors, fill out the paperwork, talk with a chaplain and discuss it with her family and friends. It took almost 2 months. This was not a spontaneous or spur-of-the-moment decision. There were legal requirements for many evaluations and documents.

She was never afraid once she had the process completed because she knew she was the one to make the decision of her time and manner of dying. Only she could know what it was to take hourly medications, inhalers, nebulizer breathing treatments, continuous oxygen and still feel the need to have the window open all day and the lights on all night in order to believe there was indeed "air in the room".

She could not get a single full breath. Ever. Have you run uphill until your lungs ache with the effort of trying desperately to bring in a full breath? And cannot quite get enough air to erase the fear of suffocating for lack of air? Imagine thinking constantly of finding a way to get your next breath. This is a kind of constant drowning. Not being able to get to the pool surface in time for that needed air! All day and night. Every day.

My mother lived bravely and with true grace this way for months until she asked us to support her in deciding the day of her dying. This was not easy for us. It took many tears and talks to finally "see" her tiny, gasping chest body was asking to be released. Her body was leading her home and she had absolutely no fear, no guilt, no shame or secrets from anyone as to the manner of her dying. Only love. She was asking us to love her to the end of her life. We did. She had time to give meaningful engraved simple gifts to her loved ones and have a last afternoon with her best lady friends. We had time to say all that needed to be said and forgive one another for any wounds or hurts. What a gift to us all.

Her death was joy filled and peaceful. She happily removed her oxygen tube, saying "Well! I won't need this anymore!" She smiled as we all placed a hand on her as she said goodbye with such joy. We cried, but she did not.

She looked absolutely beautiful and relaxed. Released into the "air" she so desired.

My Mother was brave and smart and funny and full of love. She showed us how to live and how to die. No fear. No shame. No guilt. No secrets.
Only love.

I learned this: Do not be afraid of death when it is time. Death with dignity can truly be achieved. We must be allowed to make this ultimate decision for ourselves without fear, secrecy or guilt. There is a loving energy that will lead us into dying peacefully and we should be allowed to make that compassionate choice in our country under a carefully guided process.

My mother said many times, "I am so grateful to live in Oregon where this is possible."
Tani Sue —
Thank you for sharing your touching story.
ptldjax —
What could be a more basic right than deciding for oneself whether or not to continue to live? I applaud Oregonians for their courageous stand on this contentious issue.
Jesse42 —
Catalina,

You frame this discussion using the antagonistic term, "assisted suicide."

These are not the words used to describe the Oregon law - in the law. It's clearly pejorative, identifying the persons who qualify and chose to use the law as criminals. Suicide is a violent act, a harmful act against oneself. It's a crime - and utterly separate from a death with dignity.

Using the word "suicide" is insulting to the dignity, and courage, of persons who chose to use this unique and vital law. Now listening to this program, you clearly haven't looked at the facts of this issue and are wandering in the fears. Even Gordon Smith calls Oregon's Death With Dignity "settled law."

Consider your words. Language matters. And your bias is showing.
pdx97217 —
My grandmother, whom I loved dearly, was kept alive for agonizing weeks after she would have died naturally (and relatively painlessly) without family meddling and heroic medical intervention. I have known a number of others who struggled to hang on to their final shreds of life because family members couldn't accept their deaths.

In several of these cases, an equal application of medical intervention to assist their final exits, which were at any rate inevitiable, would have been a blessing. I wish to have that choice for myself and my husband, and am grateful that Oregon gives me that option. Just because it exists, doesn't mean I am required to choose it.

Peg in Canby
jessejo —
I live in Oregon. I supported the Death with Dignity act here. When spokespersons from the hospice people appose it on the grounds that they can keep dying people comfortable, I question that. I've been through the death of my mother. The hospice folks were wonderful, but Mom's problems forced us to keep her in a nursing home. I could see that she was in pain, but she couldn't speak. Because she didn't "ask,"the staff at the home resisted using the prescribed pain medication. During her last few days, a family member had to stay at her beside twenty-four seven to be sure she was getting the prescribed dosage of medication. I know the hospice people want to believe what they say, and they do their best. But my mother chose to die at the rate her body chose, and she spent days, if not weeks, in misery.
Judy O'Neill
Judy O'Neill —
I am a person with AIDS. Although the advances in medicine allow me to now live a fairly "normal" life, I know that someday my body will no longer be able to resist the incessant barrage of trauma inflicted on it by HIV. Eventually I will not be able to take enough nutrition to keep me from wasting. My muscles will atrophy and my nerves will cease to feel. I will be unable to continue to work, to play, to talk on the phone, or even take a bath on my own. No one knows when their time will come to transition from this world to the next, but I do know that I want to be in control of the end of my life. I do not want to suffer the way I've seen some of my friends suffer. I believe in a person's right to death with dignity.
ptldjax —
My Mother used the law in 2001 after a long and painful year of treatment for lung cancer. She lived every day of that year to the fullest, and only died when she could no longer remain conscious without pain, and without loss of her bodily functions. Her death was an incredibly peaceful and loving time with my family.

Since then, I have worked with Compassion in Choices of Oregon to help other families have the peace that my family had upon my mother's death. All of the "slippery slope" and nightmare stories have not come to pass, and for the most part, our law merely gives comfort to those with a terminal diagnosis.

I would be happy to call in and participate.

Julie McMurchie 503 348 7149
jmcmurchie —
I'll raise the ugly issue - medical care for terminally ill people is very expensive, and we live with a health care system where people die of treatable, curable conditions because they lack health insurance and miss out on basic medical care.

We should have the [b][i]choice[/i][/b] to decide when an how to die. When my mother was terminally ill, she would have happily chosen to release her life to offer care to others. She required a great deal of care and expense to keep her life tolerable, but she was 'required' to stay alive (short of starving herself to death).
aaronspitzer —
I totally agree with you about the choice. I have been living with cancer for many years and want to live as long as possible, but knowing that when the time comes I have the choice is a great comfort. Because one of my metastasis sites is my intestines, however, I may not have the option, because I may not be able to keep down oral medicine.

In response to the earlier comments on the radio about people fearing they will be forced to die because of the law, this doesn't make sense to me, because of needing to involve the medical profession. The health care industry doesn't care how much you suffer, but they certainly can't make money off of you once your are dead. It is to their advantage to keep you going as long as possible.


grundoon —
The severely handicapped people who fear legislation enabling Death with Dignity are actually concerned about a loss of control. Their concern is that someone else would have a say in whether they live or die, but they fail to realize that it's the same concern terminal patients share over a stranger (or misguided relative) taking control of that patient's life and ordering treatment they don't want.

It's called Florida Daughter Syndrome by people like my sister, a nurse in a cancer ward. Having had no contact with the patient for a long time, the relatives come flying in to visit, and upon discovering that Grandma's 85 and terminal, they threaten the docs and nurses furiously, demanding "Don't you let her die!"

Their guilt, fear of death, and misguided concern for the dying relative leads them to insist on medical treatments completely unwise for that patient, and against the patient's own preferences. The poor patient is at the mercy of decisions by others, bereft of control over his or her own condition, and often also victimized by bad doctors who won't prescribe adequate pain control, their own unreasonable fears leading them to deny mercy to the suffering patient.

I look very, very closely at the motives and reasoning of people who want to leave me in that helpless condition.
starrtoons —
huh, people who are terminally ill are depressed? who'd have guessed that?

duh! of course they are! they are going to die!
jaikenone —
It seems that practitioners of western medicine find that it is perfectly acceptable to interfere with natural processes to halt, or prolong death, yet they find it difficult to support or assist a patient die in a manner they choose. I have trouble with this hands-on approach in controlling life, but a hands-off approach when it dealing with death.
neversummer —
For some, no safeguards and no reason is adequate. The concept itself is unacceptable and always will be. For others the law is not broad enough and the safeguards are onerous.

In the end, for all of us in the middle, each voter has to decide for themselves whether the safeguards are adequate by their standards. Washington, as a state, will decide based on what a majority of voters "feel" because it is not an issue of logic.
katied —
The only thing "chilling" is William Toffler's fervent belief that he knows better than the patient.

number-six —
I think that the argument about depression is a no-brainer. Have you ever known a terminally ill patient that did NOT have depression? How many patients routinely see an oncologist (or other specialist) unless they have an appropriate diagnosis? NONE. Of course these specialists will not know their patients as thoroughly as the primary provider. Psychiatry and psychotropics cannot change the inevitable but if charts were reviewed you will likely see that the majority of terminally ill patients are on an antidepressants and/or anxiolytic. The bottom line is that opponents minds cannot be changed no matter how many studies are conducted. What studies can prove definitively the religious side of the argument?
Dr Loco —
My mother died in May of metastatic breast cancer. When the brain mets were first diagnosed her first question was how long do I have to live in OR to use the death with dignity act. Her battle with this illness was over three years long. The illness gradually took away more and more options and choices about her life and comfort.

Compassion and Choices of WA provided counseling and guidance within the limits of WA law to allow her as broad a sense of controll as possible. This counseling included extensive information about pain control and measures other than hastening her death that provided additional comfort at a very frightening stage in her path.

This is not about the right to die (assisted suicide) as much as it is about the right to the dignity of self determination when all other options have been taken from you (death with dignity). Mom wanted the comfort of knowing that she could fight as hard for as long as she wanted and be done when she was done. She was, however, equally concerned about us, her children, not being culpable in her death. The means available to hasten her death if she chose were very "quiet" , "covert", and felt to her too shrouded in secrecy. For a straight shooter like my mom, this was not the way she wanted to end her life.

We were able to provide my mother as much comfort as possible through her final breath and I do not think she would have chosen to use medication to hasten her death had it been provided.

That said -- I feel much more strongly about the benefits of providing individuals facing the end of their lives the clear and unquestioned choice about how and when to meet the end of their lives than prior to this experience. This is about the comfort provided to an individual facing the end of their life by knowing that they have the choice to go on each and every day that they have left and that they can choose to do so without fear of a life that will continue beyond their will to live.
anonymous in WA —
I am a former Funeral Director and have lived in many states, I do not think this issue relates to any perticular area of the country. I support Assisted Suicide after having been at the bedside of several friends and family during their last moments on earth. What I know from the many years of haveing been a Funeral Director and having been with those dying from termnal diseases is that the Peace which comes for the patient and the family is overwhelming. Anyone and everyone should have the opportunity to die wity dignity. Of all the families members I have spoken with almost everyone says they would like the choice to live or die and none of them wants to be a burden on the family or live in excrutiating pain. A promise made to a family member to help them die is a honor and I would help anyone to have a choice.
rogermosser —

Comments are now closed.

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