Why This Catholic Physician Supports Medical Aid in Dying
By Robert Olvera
By Robert Olvera
EDITOR'S NOTE: this issue is being debated locally in Letters to the Editor of the Westerly Sun. Click HERE and HERE.
Inspired
by the public advocacy of terminal brain cancer patient Brittany Maynard,
lawmaker in Washington, DC, and at least 16 other states -- from California to
New York -- have introduced bills that would authorize the medical option of
aid in dying.
This
legislation would allow mentally competent, terminally ill adults in the final
stages of their disease the option to request a doctor's prescription for
aid-in-dying medication that they could choose to take it if their suffering
becomes unbearable.
As
a Catholic and a physician, I feel compelled to dispel the myths about these
bills perpetrated by the Roman Catholic Church, some disability groups, and the
American Medical Association (AMA).
In
fact, more than one-third of those who qualify for the medication never take
it, according to the Oregon Public Health Department. But having it in their
possession gives these dying patients great comfort knowing they have it if
their suffering does become unbearable and there is no other medical option
available to help them.
Contrary
to opponents' claims, medical aid in dying is not "euthanasia." It
requires a doctor or nurse -- not the patient -- to administer the medication.
Euthanasia is illegal throughout the United States.
Aid
in dying also is not "assisted suicide," as critics wrongly call it.
The
nation's largest public health association, the American Public Health Association
(not the American Medical Association), supports aid in dying. It recognizes
that "the term 'suicide' or 'assisted suicide' is inappropriate when
discussing the choice of a mentally competent, terminally ill patient to seek
medications that he or she could consume to bring about a peaceful and
dignified death."
The
five states that authorize medical aid in dying -- Oregon, Washington, Montana,
Vermont and New Mexico -- have separate laws prohibiting assisted suicide. The
death certificates of terminally ill adults who utilize medical aid in dying in
these states confirm that they died from their terminal disease, not assisted
suicide.
In
addition, 17,000 U.S. doctors from 28 medical specialties support by a 54
percent to 31 percent margin the decision of patients with "incurable and
terminal" diseases who want to end their own life, according to an online
survey conducted by Medscape.
Despite
the opposition to medical aid in dying by some disability groups, polls of
people living with disabilities show they support this end-of-life option by
about the same percentage as the general population.
As
physicians, we should always provide quality end-of-life care for people who
are suffering from an incurable and irreversible terminal illness. Yet when a
person with only months, weeks or even days to live cannot get relief from
extreme pain, we should allow that person the option to end their suffering
when the time comes.
My
25-old daughter Emily Rose desperately pleaded for this option during the final
few agonizing months of her life last spring when she suffered in horrific pain
from terminal leukemia, despite getting great home hospice and palliative care.
As
a Catholic, I pray to God for the passage of the bills authorizing medical aid
in dying. These laws would ensure that dying Americans have the option to pass
peacefully in their sleep, suffer less, and spare themselves the pain of a
lengthy and prolonged death that my daughter had to endure.
Olvera
is a Harvard-educated physician who specializes in family practice and sports
medicine in Orange County, California. He is a volunteer for Compassion &
Choices, the nation's leading end-of-life choice advocacy organization.