Medical professionals, lawyers, and advocates of disabilities rights are standing together to oppose a proposed measure that would legalise assisted suicide in Washington, D.C.
The concerned groups warned that the draft law, to be known as the "Death with Dignity Act" of 2015, preys on the most vulnerable, including patients suffering trauma from their experiences in war-torn countries like Iraq.
"Allowing anyone, especially doctors to kill, or help kill a person is too dangerous to patients, doctors, the health care system, and society," said Dr. Karl Benzio of the Lighthouse Network at a hearing.
Dr. Benzio maintained that patients can still recover from their yearning to die.
Under the measure, which would allow those with terminal diagnoses to get lethal prescriptions from doctors, patients must first write a request witnessed by two parties, of whom one must be a "disinterested" party, or someone who is not the patient's family or beneficiary.
Another doctor must ensure that the patient is indeed suffering from a terminal illness and is mentally capable to make the decision.
The doctor, however, only needs to "recommend" that the patient inform their "next of kin" of their decision.
The patient only has to find a mental health counsellor only if the physician considers it is appropriate to do so.
The requirements have alarmed pro-life advocates who say the measure makes suicide an accessible solution to suffering in life.
Dr. Benzio said if leaders and lawmakers themselves devalue life through such proposed measure, then "why are we surprised" when young people do the same in debasing their own lives and that of others.
Groups in favour of assisted suicide are also known to just lead patients to doctors who will honour their requests, said Molly Greenberg of the National Council on Independent Living.
Another issue raised is that the measure does not require patients asking for assisted suicide to be evaluated first by a psychiatrist or psychologist for mental health disorders like depression that might keep them from making a sound judgment.
Physicians are also not required to be qualified to judge a patient's mental competency, warned D.C. Department of Health's Dr. LaQuandra Nesbitt.
Moreover, the bill only requires one witness to be "disinterested" compared to wills that "have required multiple disinterested witnesses," said Seattle-based attorney Margaret Dore.
It is also possible that another person administers the lethal dose to the patient while the latter is asleep or incapacitated, she added.
Those who would benefit from the death of a patient may also try to "hasten" it as the water- and alcohol-soluble pills may get into someone else's hands.
The measure also ignores the possibility that terminal diagnoses can sometimes be wrong.
It is "very difficult for a physician to accurately predict" the six-month window for a terminal illness, said Dr. Nesbitt.
"We can all agree that there are worse things in life than death," she noted, emphasising that D.C. is going into "unchartered territory" by considering physician-assisted suicide.
"The organised medical community is opposed to physician-assisted suicide," she said, citing the 20-year opposition by the American Medical Association which has insisted that doctors need to make sure that patients are getting cared for rather than get a lethal dose of medication.
The National Hospice & Palliative Care Organization has previously said that "effective therapies are now available to assure relief from almost all forms of distress during the terminal phase of an illness without purposefully hastening death as the means to that end."
While Oregon, Vermont, and Washington have all green-lit similar measures, other states like Maryland, Colorado, California, and Maine have disallowed it.
On Nov. 1, 2014, Brittany Maynard, a prominent advocate of the "death with dignity" movement, chose assisted suicide as provided by Oregon's 1997 "Death with Dignity Act" after doctors diagnosed her with terminal brain cancer on the first day of the said year, wrote McClatchy DC.
Her death has triggered proposed laws in 25 states.
