Hawaii lawmakers vote to legalize medically assisted suicide

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Associated Press


By AUDREY MCAVOY, ASSOCIATED PRESS
HONOLULU — Mar 29, 2018, 6:20 PM ET

Hawaii lawmakers planned to vote Thursday on legislation that would make it the latest liberal-leaning state to legalize medically assisted suicide.

The state House has already passed the measure, which allows doctors to fulfill requests from terminally ill patients for prescription medication that will allow them to die. The governor has said he will sign the bill, which would make Hawaii the sixth state to legalize the practice, plus Washington, D.C.

The legislation includes safeguards intended to prevent abuse, but opponents said it puts the poor, elderly, sick and disabled at risk. Lawmakers have heard hours of impassioned testimony from advocates and opponents.

Hawaii Family Forum said in written testimony that it may create subtle pressure on the elderly to end their lives early so they are not a burden to their families.

Read more: http://abcnews.go.com/Health/wireStory/hawaii-lawmakers-set-vote-medically-assisted-suicide-54109134

[TheDebbieDee]

2. Hawaii is progressive on several issues...

I wonder why they haven't been able to raise the minimum wage there.

I saw a video for Congressional candidate Mr Ing who stated that raising the minimum was a big deal there as the people who live there are having a hard time dealing with the high cost of living and tourist prices.

[msongs]

3. somewhat misleading headline. it is true that some voted for this but...it has NOT

been passed into law as of the time I write this

[mahina]

14. But it did pass the legislature, and Governor Ige has said that he will sign it.

Finally!

So very grateful for Scott Foster and all the others who have worked on this for so many years.

Mahalo nui loa.

[BigmanPigman]

4. Good luck getting any doctors to do it if it is passed.

In CA doctors are too afraid of lawsuits to partake in the process. People in pain, dying and no quality of life want to die safely and legally but no one will assist them even though it is legal.

[msongs]

5. I had a friend who recently arranged and implemented her own demise she

had no legal probs with it

[BigmanPigman]

6. Where did she find doctors

willing to do it?

[Turbineguy]

7. I have found these "living wills"

to be over-enthusiastically followed as well.

When an Aunt was dying in a nursing facility I asked at the counter, "What if she changes her mind or something?" "We have her signed statement!"

I was the only one with her and I had a hard time hearing her mumble. So I don't know if she was trying to tell me something.

I'm not in favor of prolonging peoples' suffering, but have to think that when you are at the very brink, life might seem something you want to hold on to.

We sign these papers when we are under no duress, but we have to allow people a chance to change their minds.

In the Netherlands they passed a euthanasia law. Some people seem pretty callous about it, but they have trouble finding Doctors who are willing to carry it out.

[Aristus]

8. Abiding by the dictates of a living will is not a way of denying a patient may change his/her mind,

just away of avoiding a lawsuit if the living will is contravened. The signature is the compelling legal factor.

[The_jackalope]

9. Medically assisted death extends to our loved ones the same compassion

we give to our pets. It's the only civilized way to deal with suffering, IMO.

I've seen both sides of the issue with the same person. I'm Canadian. Last September my wife had a medically assisted death four months after being diagnosed with ovarian cancer. MAID (Medical Assistance in Dying) has been available in Canada for almost two years now. However, as a result of spending 25 years in the US, she was deeply suspicious of medical bureaucracies. She wanted to retain complete control of her death, and chose to commit suicide on her own. I supported her all the way, and sat with her as she tried to die by self-strangulation (we couldn't get pure helium without leaving a paper trail.) Her attempt failed. Sitting with her while keeping myself from intervening was the single hardest thing I've ever done in my life. It drove home the point that committing painless suicide is not a task for amateurs.

The next day she relented on her beliefs and called in the pros. The assessments were straight-forward (luckily she hadn't suffered brain damage during her attempted suicide) and the doctors who conducted them looked on what they did as an act of compassion. The event itself could not have been more dignified, graceful or loving The drug protocol they used was certain, swift and pain-free. She was eager to go, and after telling me she loved me, she just closed her eyes as the drugs went in, and left. It was almost anti-climactic.

I would like to see every civilized nation in the world offer its citizens the same respect for their choices.

[Judi Lynn]

10. Your post is so valuable to anyone concerned about this totally personal experience.

Thank you for taking the time to allow others who care to understand what you and your wife experienced, after making this decision.

Very best wishes to you.

[The_jackalope]

11. Thank you.

[onetexan]

12. Thank you for sharing. You did the right thing in honoring your wife's choice.

Over the years i've changed my mind re: the right to die with dignity. I believe one has to be very careful about ensuring this is actually the choice of the person terminally suffering, but that it really should be a legal choice to do, and made with the interest of the person.

[3Hotdogs]

13. I believe most of the resistance to legalizing this practice comes from fear of dying.

Add to that, feckless politicians afraid they will lost votes.

[The_jackalope]

15. I agree. There's also this strange irony

Many Christians believe that returning deliberately to the arms of God is a sin...SMDH

Our culture is fucked up in many ways around the idea of death. That is one reason why, a short time after my wife died sitting in her favourite recliner, I took a portrait of her empty shell and posted it to Facebook. Most people have never taken a close, unblinking look at the face of a loved one following their death.

[3Hotdogs]

16. What was the "facebook" response to the photo?

[The_jackalope]

17. Mostly silence. It's quite a challenging photo.