Washington State Has New Death with Dignity Law

On November 4, 2008, Washington State became the second state in the nation to approve of physician assisted suicide available to terminally ill patients, the so-called "death with dignity" law. Under Initiative 1000 which follows a similar Oregon law, doctors can now prescribe lethal doses of medication to help those who wish to end their lives due to a terminal illness.

A similar law was tried in Washington State in 1991, however, the initiative failed because it would have allowed physicians to not only prescribe the lethal drugs, but actually assist the patient in taking them or injecting them. Here, the patient must administer the lethal dose themself and would be monitored by two licensed and practicing physicians. It is argued that a person should have the right to take their own life when two or more physcians have determined that they have a life-threatening illness with less than six months to live. In some cases, the terminal illness causes extreme pain and suffering. Therefore, the patient may wish to take their own life by means of a lethal concoction of prescribed drugs in order to escape the inevitable future that has either been forecast for them, or for which they are now suffering. Like Oregon, Washington voters have decided that this is a humane way of helping the terminally ill decide what is best for themselves when it comes to patient rights and care. Under the initiative/law, physicians cannot be held liable for assisting these patients in their own demise.

As a former resident of Oregon and now a resident of Washington, I have followed the arguments closely. I understand the need for compassionate care and understanding of persons with terminally ill conditions who may be in extreme pain or discomfort or who have been issued a health-care death sentence. However, I can tell you from personal experience that doctors are only human too and can make mistakes in their diagnoses. How many times has a patient been told they only had six months to live and yet went on to live productively for six to ten more years. Take for example those who suffer from AIDS who now have discovered life-giving new treatments to aid them in their health-care choices. My own father was given a diagnosis of death due to lung cancer and yet went on to live and father a child at the age of 56. He traveled the globe as a missionary journalist building child-care centers and preaching the Gospel.

This right to die law was an expensive battle waged by the Death with Dignity organization who were able to raise over $6 million dollars in their fight to win. Private donations and faith-based denominations like the Catholic Church (who always weigh in on the side of right to life) were dismally out-financed by the opponents. As those who believe that taking one's own life is a sin and a sign of spiritual hopelessness which would be unacceptable behavior despite the circumstances, those opposed to Initiative 1000 feel that there is sufficient pain medications and pain alternatives which would alleviate the need for anyone to feel that they would have to take their own life.

On television during the last few weeks of the campaign, they featured a nurse Dr. Christina who gave a tearful plea that her own mother would have been better taking her own life. The former Governor of Oregon stepped in to claim that none of the worse-case scenarios such as family members coercing to hasten a patient's death ever happened in that state - "not one of them" she claimed. One woman showed photos of her deceased husband before and after brain cancer as if his disheveled hair and contorted face would somehow justify their desire for him to leave this life as soon as he desired.

These "death with dignity" laws are only going to further the lack of respect we hold for those who are disabled, elderly or infirm. Everyone deserves to know that their life counts even in extreme pain and suffering. It is difficult at best to convince others that their lives are not their own to do away with as they please, however and whenever they choose their time in this life has come. I say this because a patient no matter how ill does not know with any certainty (including their doctors) how much time they may actually have left with any degree of certainty nor even if the illness would progress to the point of inevitable death. I believe that miracles do happen, that the human body has a remarkable ability to heal itself and that no one should take their life or be in a position to coerce another into taking theirs for whatever reason.

If you were an emergency worker who happened upon a terrible car accident and the driver was engulfed in flames inside the car crying out for you to end their life, could you make that moral choice? Many war veterans have probably seen similar cases. What does the Bible say?

"And the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up; and if he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him." (James 5:15)

Financial burdens, convenience, long-term care needs, physician error, family conflict, misdiagnoses, not to mention spiritual bankruptcy and making a major decision from which there is no return are subjects which should not be taken lightly. Washington's death with dignity law is a fallacy, there is no dignity in cowardess, manipulation or speculation about the future or the unknown. Betting that one's future has no hope or would be inconvenient on others is morally and ethically wrong. It is hoped that this law will be repealed in the future.