Vermont Passes `Aid in Dying' Measure

[awouk]

Vermont Passes `Aid in Dying' Measure


By PAULA SPAN

Vermont will become the fourth state to make it legal for a
physician to prescribe lethal medication to a terminally ill,
mentally competent patient who wants to end his life. It has also
become the first state to approve the practice through
legislation, instead of via a public referendum (as in Oregon and
Washington) or a court decision (in Montana).

The Vermont House of Representatives approved the measure by a
75-to-65 vote on Monday night, after 17-to-13 approval in the
Senate last week. Gov. Peter Shumlin has said he will sign it
into law.

`It's been a long road in Vermont,' said Kathryn Tucker, director
of legal affairs for the national Compassion and Choices
organization, who testified in both chambers in favor of the
bill.

Supporters of what advocates call `death with dignity' (and
opponents sometimes label `physician-assisted suicide') have been
introducing similar legislation in Vermont since the mid 1990s.
In the only previous vote, a bill went down to defeat in the
state house in 2007.

Given polls that consistently show broad support among Vermont
voters, a referendum might well have passed years ago, said
Michael Sirotkin, one of the lawyers representing the group
Patient Choices at End of Life Vermont. But the state doesn't
permit ballot initiatives, so organizers turned to the
legislature.

`I'd say this is actually a harder path, because often the public
is ahead of legislators on controversial issues,' Mr. Sirotkin
said.

So-called aid in dying will look different in Vermont than
elsewhere, because of an 11th-hour compromise required to win
over two state senators who initially voted for the proposed law,
then changed their positions.

`You saw a real tension between legislators who wanted to ensure
freedom of choice on this enormously personal issue and, on the
other side, legislators reluctant to bring government into the
practice of medicine,' Ms. Tucker said.

Therefore, when the law takes effect after the governor signs it,
it will initially closely follow the Oregon model, with numerous
statutory procedures and safeguards meant to protect patients
against coercion or changes of heart. It adopts the same 15-day
waiting period between the patient's first request for medication
and the second, for example, and requires a second physician's
evaluation.

But three years later, those requirements drop away, and a lethal
prescription for a mentally competent patient expected to die
within six months becomes largely a private matter between doctor
and patient.

After July 1, 2016, the law will protect physicians from civil or
criminal liability, and from professional misconduct charges. And
it still requires informed consent, mandating that doctors inform
patients of `all feasible end-of-life services,' including
palliative care and hospice, and of the medication's risks.
Otherwise, it no longer mandates when or how doctors respond to
requests, as long as `the patient makes an independent decision
to self-administer a lethal dose of medication.'

`We view it as an elegant compromise,' Mr. Sirotkin said.

In three years, supporters hope, physicians will have become more
comfortable with the process, and the data they're required to
compile on such actions will show no coercion or abuse.

The flexibility to reach this sort of compromise shows the
advantage of the legislative process, Ms. Tucker said. In ballot
initiatives, like the one defeated in neighboring Massachusetts
last year, a statute's language becomes locked in. And because
activists on both sides have been trying to persuade 180 Vermont
legislators instead of the entire voting public, the media
campaign has been quieter and less expensive.

But it's also easier for legislation to be revisited or reversed
by a future legislature. `No one really believes this is going to
go away,' Edward Mahoney, a religion professor and president of
Vermont Alliance for Ethical Healthcare, the primary opponent of
the law, told me before the vote.

Few Vermonters are likely to use the law, given the state's size.
Oregon (where last year 115 patients received lethal
prescriptions) has more than six times Vermont's population, and
Washington (103 such prescriptions in 2011) is more than ten
times larger. But the prospect raises strong emotions,
nonetheless.

`This type of legislation has been introduced in something like
20 to 30 states and has never passed a legislature,' Dr. Mahoney
told me before the vote. `They've had defeat after defeat, and
they want a victory. That's why it's being pushed.'

Now supporters have that victory. `This will be something of a
tipping point,' said Ms. Tucker of Compassion and Choices. `I
think it will galvanize efforts around the country.'

But it might also galvanize the opposition in Vermont. `This
could very well get fought all over again in three years,' Mr.
Sirotkin said. For the moment, though, a small group of advocates
gathered for a low-key celebration in Montpelier on Monday night.

* Copyright 2013 The New York Times Company

--
`The issue which has swept down the centuries and which will have to
be fought sooner or later is the people versus the banks.' -Lord Acton
"to email me, delete blackhole from my return address

[Werner]

Kevorkian was severely pinished for it.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/04/us/04kevorkian.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0

[GLOBALIST]

If people want to commit suicide..go for it, but why does
society have to pat you on the back for it? There is an
array of stuff you get out of any store to end your life.
I even have to pay for your choice of poisons? Talk
about socialism.

[BIG BIRD]

"Werner" <whet...@mac.com> wrote in message
news:55efcad9-8542-4f7d...@googlegroups.com...
: Kevorkian was severely pinished for it.
: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/04/us/04kevorkian.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0
:

you should be pinished too, for bein a stinkin,broke down, old cracker dick sucker

LOL

what the hell is pinished ??

some hillbilly thang yall ??

[Planet Visitor II]

On Mon, 20 May 2013 04:24:24 -0700 (PDT), Werner <whet...@mac.com> wrote:

>Kevorkian was severely pinished for it.
>http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/04/us/04kevorkian.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0

See --
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W4ga_M5Zdn4



Planet Visitor II