I just recently returned from a trip to Maryland where Jack Ames of Defend Life asked me to speak to various groups, hopefully including legislators, about opposing a current physician-assisted suicide bill in the Maryland legislature. The Maryland “End of Life Options” bill was, as usual, based on the first physician-assisted suicide law passed in Oregon with a few additional loopholes.

I was able to speak to many groups during my trip but unfortunately, I could not be scheduled to speak at the legislature’s committee meeting where people from both sides of the issue were able to speak.

However, one of the Defend Life people and I went to the statehouse to see if we could get in to talk to some legislators personally. We were only able to get to speak to one legislator and he was considered to be on the side of passing such a bill. We were told we only had 5 minutes to talk to him.

We were there for much longer.

We talked about our personal experiences, especially about my 30 year old, physically healthy daughter Marie who killed herself after a 16-year struggle with substance abuse using an assisted suicide technique she learned after reading pro-assisted suicide advocate Derek Humphry’s book Final Exit.

I told him about Marie’s death which was horrific instead of peaceful and that was like an atom bomb dropped on our family. I talked about the reality of suicide contagion which led two people close to Marie became suicidal but who were able to be saved. We talked about the increasing epidemic of suicides we have now  and how seductive is the message that killing ourselves can solve problems like not wanting to be a burden on our families. That is what my daughter told me and one of the biggest reasons given by people who have resorted to physician-assisted suicide.

I also told him about at least six problems with physician-assisted suicide laws that most legislators-and the public-don’t know but that are inherent in physician-assisted laws. These include such problems as the total immunity for doctors and the secrecy involved, mandatory falsification of physician-assisted suicide death certificates and the obvious medical discrimination between treating suicidal people who are physically healthy and suicidal people who are considered terminally ill and seeking physician-assisted suicide.

I also told him about my experiences as a nurse with suicidal people-some of whom were terminally ill-and how (except for my daughter) they all changed their minds with listening, support and referral to a mental health specialist. I also told him about a UCLA project started when California legalized physician-assisted suicide. The project offered an intensive intake process for patient requesting physician-assisted suicide conducted by trained psychotherapists and social workers instead of physicians and offering help and support for any needs the patient might have. Not only did the project show that “most of what patients needed was to discuss their feelings about their approaching death and process their grief and sense of loss”, but also that “only” 25% of patients went on to commit physician-assisted suicide.

When you combine this with the fact that an admitted 1/3 of terminally ill Oregon patients who obtain the lethal overdose for assisted suicide never take it and with no follow-up as to whether the diagnosis was wrong, people changed their minds or even what happened to the dangerous lethal medication in the home etc., it is obvious that lethal mistakes are being made.

THE MOST IMPORTANT THING I TOLD THE LEGISLATOR

However, what seemed to be the most important point that stunned the legislator was telling him that if he voted for the physician-assisted suicide bill, he would have to personally shoulder the responsibility for the lives subsequently lost that obviously could have been saved.

I told him that like other ethical medical professionals, my most profound fear was harming or worst of all killing a patient, however inadvertently. I told him that despite my decades of nursing, I always knew I would have to leave my profession if such a tragedy happened because I would be devastated and lose my confidence in my abilities.

I told him that now with the facts we gave him, it was up to him to vote responsibly and hopefully share our information with others.

CONCLUSION

Most people assume that legislators are always lawyers who carefully read and understand legislation before voting. Wrong!

And most people don’t understand that most legislators rely on lobbyists for their information. Well-funded groups like Compassion and Choices are able to afford lobbyists, activists, access to sympathetic media outlets, etc. that promote their physician-assisted suicide agenda while other groups like pro-life groups and disability advocates have to rely on passionate volunteers.

Years ago, a legislator here in my home state of Missouri said he felt his constituents were against a certain piece of legislation. Why? Because he said he had received 4 letters!

This was before the internet has made it easier to contact our representatives but this shows how powerful our individual efforts can be.

We need everyone to speak out and speak up, especially when it comes to dangerous legislative bills like physician-assisted suicide.