In Vermont, a Bid to Legalize Physician-Assisted Suicide

[Judi Lynn]

Wednesday, March 30, 2005

In Vermont, a Bid to Legalize Physician-Assisted Suicide


By JOHN SCHWARTZ and JAMES ESTRIN
New York Times
SHELBURNE, Vt. - The next showdown over physician-assisted suicide could be in Vermont, where a group of citizens has begun an effort to pass a bill patterned on Oregon's seven-year-old law allowing doctors to prescribe suicide drugs for terminally ill patients who request them.

The bill went nowhere in the State Legislature last year, but was reintroduced in February and could be brought before legislative committees next month. Its supporters say they could make headway in Vermont, a state with a fiercely independent streak and small-scale government that tends to be swayed less by big outside campaigns than by what local citizens want.

In a Zogby poll conducted in Vermont in December, 78 percent of 500 randomly selected adults said they would support a bill to allow terminally ill patients to get medication from their doctors to hasten death.

Issues surrounding choices at the end of life have gained prominence recently because of the case of Terri Schiavo in Florida. But Michael Sirotkin, a lobbyist hired to push the Vermont bill, said the bill protects the right of people to have their end-of-life wishes honored, while the Schiavo case shows what can happen when a patient does not make those wishes known. The bill, he said, "is about patient choice, patient control."
(snip/...)

http://www.heraldtribune.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050330/ZNYT04/503300713/-1/HEALTHMATTERS

[Ganja Ninja]

1. Gosh, I wonder how the personal responsibility crowd will ...

respond to this? Will they allow individuals to choose between a long, drawn out, painful, agonizing death or a peaceful, painless death of their own choosing?:shrug:

[Silverhair]

2. Why is a doctor needed for suicide?

Suicide isn't a complicated medical procedure. Thousands of people manage it every year. Drugs that work are available over-the-counter. Some internet research can even tell how to do it painlessly and effectivly.

Sorry, I chose NOT to post any links for that. If somebody wants to see it they will have to their own googling.

[Cooley Hurd]

3. The fundie Schiavo protestors have a new gig...

...after Mrs. Schiavo passes, and I'm sure they're chartering buses to VT as we speak...:eyes:

[zanne]

4. Vermont would not take kindly to that.

The people of Vermont will not assist them in any way if they're foolish enough to come up. Vermont doesn't apologize for being liberal.