{"id":207090,"date":"2019-07-28T11:13:44","date_gmt":"2019-07-28T16:13:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.liveaction.org\/news\/?p=207090"},"modified":"2019-07-24T16:08:26","modified_gmt":"2019-07-24T21:08:26","slug":"woman-cancer-assisted-suicide-not-answer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/woman-cancer-assisted-suicide-not-answer\/","title":{"rendered":"Woman with terminal cancer: ‘Assisted suicide is not the answer’"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>

Massachusetts is currently considering a bill<\/a> titled \u201cAn Act Relative to End of Life Options,\u201d which would legalize assisted suicide in certain circumstances. In a letter<\/a>, Massachusetts resident Pauline Morris offers an often-overlooked perspective in the debate: the perspective of people who have survived a loved one\u2019s suicide. Morris writes that in considering the legislation, \u201cI cannot help but to think about my experience with suicide.\u201d<\/p>\n

Almost five decades ago, Morris\u2019s husband died by suicide at age 31, leaving her and their four young children in shock. She acknowledges that the motivations for her husband\u2019s suicide may seem different than those sanctioned under the proposed bill, but she states \u201cassisted suicide is still suicide.\u201d Pointing to studies<\/a> of patients\u2019 reasons for seeking assisted suicide, Morris notes that patients seek it not because of physical pain, but due to existential suffering, the same suffering that drove her husband to take his life.<\/p>\n

READ: Doctors warn legalizing assisted suicide could cause \u2018tsunami\u2019 of elderly patients to seek it<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

While assisted suicide advocates emphasize it as a \u201csolution\u201d to suffering, it ends a person\u2019s life, and the suffering does not end for a patient\u2019s loved ones. Morris writes, \u201cThere is always that empty place where the loved one should be. Time does not heal the wounds of suicide. The act is never over for the loved ones left behind. The pain is forever and has a ripple effect on future generations.\u201d Similar feelings have been expressed by family members left behind<\/a> by legal assisted suicide.<\/p>\n

That ripple effect includes a greater likelihood for those affected by the loss to die by suicide themselves, because suicide is contagious<\/a>. While advocacy groups claim that legal assisted suicide does not influence the overall suicide rate, others have raised the alarm that the teen suicide rate has doubled<\/a> in Oregon, where assisted suicide is legal and has received extensive media coverage.<\/p>\n

Morris, who now has cancer and whose husband suffers from dementia, calls for care to address patients’ depression, instead of presenting assisted suicide as medical care. She writes, \u201cEveryone’s experience with terminal illness is unique, but based on my experience with my husband, suicide is not the answer. Legalizing assisted suicide via a lethal legal overdose sends a message: some lives are not worth living, namely the lives of people with terminal illness and disability.”<\/p>\n

\u201cLike\u201d Live Action News on Facebook<\/a> for more pro-life news and commentary!<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Massachusetts is currently considering a bill titled \u201cAn Act Relative to End of Life Options,\u201d which would legalize assisted suicide in certain circumstances. In a letter, Massachusetts resident Pauline Morris offers an often-overlooked perspective in the debate: the perspective of people who have survived a loved one\u2019s suicide. Morris writes that in considering the legislation, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":459,"featured_media":191831,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false},"categories":[15,3473],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\nWoman with terminal cancer: 'Assisted suicide is not the answer'<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Assisted suicide is increasingly being described as the answer to ending suffering, but one woman with cancer is speaking out against it.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/woman-cancer-assisted-suicide-not-answer\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Woman with terminal cancer: 'Assisted suicide is not the 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