Suicide is tragic, but it is not unlawful. Legalizing physician-assisted suicide, as California did last week, is not about giving patients the “right to die,” but it is about giving doctors the right to assist in self-killing. The law protects physicians, but it is dangerous for healthcare, patients, their families and society.
Frankly, I resent those who are corrupting my profession. Doctors prescribing lethal drugs is not a new idea. Before Hippocrates, doctors both cured and killed. Patients were terrified until physicians began swearing “they would give no deadly drug, even if asked for it.” Trust was built on that moral foundation, allowing Western medicine to prosper because patients knew their physicians would “do no harm.”
It takes great skill to provide quality end-of-life care, but it takes little skill to kill. It’s the simple solution that puts an end to difficult patients, not difficult diseases. It gives physicians too much power and assumes all physicians are ideal moral agents all the time. That assumption is false.
Legalization is dangerous for families. Suicide leaves sadness, guilt and anger in its wake. How would you feel if you found your mom’s nursing home bed empty and then learned her physician helped your mom kill herself? In California, Oregon, Washington and Vermont, no prior family notification is required. Family dissension is inevitable, as well. How do you prevent greedy residents, tired caregivers and others from influencing the decision? This “right” is touted to be about autonomy, but terminally ill people are overwhelmed, often depressed, easily influenced and extremely vulnerable. In fact, they have far less “real” autonomy during this time than any other time in their lives.
Physician-assisted suicide is dangerous for patients. The biggest problem in health care is it costs too much, but a handful of Seconal capsules is cheap, tens of thousands of dollars cheaper than quality end-of-life care, in fact. Add to that deadly mix the fact that Medicare and Social Security are both facing bankruptcy and healthcare rationing is on the way. Chillingly, some bioethicists are already advocating a “duty to die” after age 75.
Legalized physician-assisted suicide is dangerous for society. There has been a slippery slope in every country but the U.S. Advocates here know they have to go slow since they must still legalize it state by state. Holland went from physician-assisted suicide, to voluntary euthanasia by lethal injection, to non-voluntary euthanasia (consent was not possible), to involuntary euthanasia (permission was not asked), to infanticide and then to euthanasia for mental suffering alone. Belgium and the Netherlands are now conducting “organ donation euthanasia” — harvesting patients’ body parts by killing them on the operating room so that something “good” will come out of their death. The same practice is being debated in Canada, where euthanasia was legalized in February.
Proponents romanticize and glorify the “heroic courage” of those taking their lethal drink, which will increase overall suicide rates. In a radio debate yesterday, one said, “We played soft music, had a glass of wine together and she held my hand thanking me for my help. Fifteen minutes later she was gone. It was beautiful!”
Physician-assisted suicide is based on halting suffering, but how do you measure suffering? How much suffering is enough? Suffering is subjective and immeasurable. In Oregon’s experience, patients credit their decision to fear — fear of being a burden or even fear of losing autonomy, enjoyable activities, dignity or bodily functions. Pain or fear of pain came in a distant sixth on the list.
There is a better solution. First, we need to rip off the shroud of secrecy that cloaks what is really going on in states where it is legal. Independent research on how well physician-assisted suicide is working is impossible. Secondly, we need to continue to improve palliative care, pain control, emotional support, symptom management and hospice care.
I had a friend who moved to Africa and had a problem with rats in the house he rented. Concerned his young child would be bitten, he complained to his landlord, who assured my friend he could solve the problem. The next day the landlord arrived with a basket containing two cobras to put in the attic. The proposed solution was effective but more dangerous than the problem.
In the same way, physician-assisted suicide is more dangerous than the issue we are trying to solve. H.L. Mencken was right when he said, “There is always an easy solution to every problem — neat, plausible … and wrong.” Let’s pick the better way.
Dr. David Stevens is chief executive officer of the Christian Medical & Dental Associations, the nation’s largest faith-based organization of doctors. Thinking of submitting an op-ed to the Washington Examiner? Be sure to read our guidelines on submissions.
