| We are so proud of MCFL Board member, Bea Martins, for her letter with a zing, which appeared in the Taunton Gazette and the Fall River Herald News. ######
LETTER: Doctor-prescribed suicide a dangerous initiative
http://www.wickedlocal.com/berkley/mobiletopstories/x660343619/LETTER-Doctor-prescribed-suicide-a-dangerous-initiative#axzz1nrRRsPfN
The doctor-prescribed suicide initiative is just too dangerous. There are many problems with this initiative; let's discuss two. First, there is a high potential for elder abuse. The initiative does not require a "disinterested" witness to be present while the lethal drug is being administered.
Without a "disinterested" witness, there is an opportunity for the patient's heir or someone who will benefit from the patient's death to give the dose without the patient's consent. How will we know? Also, the death certificate does not list physician-assisted suicide as the cause of death but the underlying illness that the patient originally requested supposedly. We will never know how many seniors are dying from this.
The second problem is that suicide doses are very inexpensive. What temptation! Does the insurance company provide for the expensive cancer treatment or do they kindly let you know they won't cover the cancer treatment but they will cover for the suicide dosages? Seem too far-fetched? This has already happened in Oregon, which is one of the two states that have passed misguided suicide initiatives.
Barbara Wagner and Randy Stroup both requested cancer treatment their doctors recommended to help extend their lives. Both received letters from their insurance coverage companies stating they decided not to comply with the doctor's requests, but kindly offered to cover the suicide dosages, which only cost approximately $50. Where is the patient's ability to make choices? It is a play on words. Physician-assisted suicide will offer some insurance companies a cost-saving measure.
Are you ready for this? Don't you think this is just a little too dangerous to unleash here in Massachusetts? By the way, the organization that is supporting this initiative, Compassion and Choices, is the old Hemlock Society. New name but same game!
Bea Martins
Fall River ####### Margaret Dore has sent the following: Here's a case that illustrates Bea Martins' concerns all too well. Doctors and health care facilities already have far too much leeway that permits them to end people's lives - even when there is no medical reason for it. Read this chilling story about institutional elder abuse:
Kathleen's demise: a cautionary tale BY ROB WIPOND, JULY 2011
and
And watch the YouTube video showing this same woman just days before her death, which occurred under suspicious circumstances, in the same institution that was and is still under investigation for attempted murder by morphine overdose of the woman several months earlier:
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