{"id":254731,"date":"2021-10-09T11:35:21","date_gmt":"2021-10-09T16:35:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.liveaction.org\/news\/?p=254731"},"modified":"2021-10-08T01:00:49","modified_gmt":"2021-10-08T06:00:49","slug":"massachusetts-doctors-vulnerable-threatened-assisted-suicide","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/massachusetts-doctors-vulnerable-threatened-assisted-suicide\/","title":{"rendered":"Massachusetts doctors: Vulnerable citizens feel ‘threatened’ by assisted suicide legislation"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>

A group of physicians and disability activists in Massachusetts are warning that legalizing assisted suicide would hurt the state’s most vulnerable citizens. At a press conference last week, the group, led by Dr. Laura Petrillo, said the poor, the disabled, and communities of color would be disproportionately impacted if the legislation is passed.<\/p>\n

In 2020, a judge ruled<\/a> that patients do not have a constitutional right to assisted suicide. Yet legislators are still trying to force the issue, with a Joint Committee on Public Health hearing held last week<\/a> to debate a proposal legalizing assisted suicide. Reportedly, over 80 state lawmakers<\/a> have signed onto the bill. But opponents are still speaking out, warning that it could have dire consequences.<\/p>\n

Petrillo, originally from California, said at the press conference<\/a> that legalizing assisted suicide in California dramatically changed how medicine was practiced, and “profoundly affects everyone involved.” She also blasted lawmakers for considering it during a pandemic, and said assisted suicide is merely a symptom of privilege within the medical industry.<\/p>\n

READ: Four psychiatrists speak out against assisted suicide: Legal doesn\u2019t mean ethical<\/em><\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cThe vast majority of patients request [assisted suicide] to have absolute control over their moment of death,\u201d she said, and added that vulnerable groups conversely \u201cfeel like their lives are being threatened by a law like this.\u201d<\/p>\n

John B. Kelly, a disability rights activist from Boston, agreed. He pointed out that when the issue was raised before, in 2012, it was “wealthier, white towns” that voted in favor while working-class and minority communities were staunchly opposed.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s about escaping the \u2018existential distress\u2019 some people experience over depending on others, of feeling undignified, and like a burden,\u201d he said, insisting that lawmakers should instead focus on funding better home care and end-of-life care. \u201cMassachusetts should provide world-class palliative care. Equality under the law depends on it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kelly, a quadriplegic who is paralyzed from the shoulders down, also said that for many in the disability community, it’s clear that quality-of-life arguments are directed at people like him, calling quality of life \u201cthe most fearsome three words in the English language.\u201d This mindset, he argued, has only gotten worse during the pandemic, and his brother \u2014 who is also disabled \u2014 was questioned by a doctor about his potential quality of life after catching pneumonia.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese laws promote writing-off people as having too low of a quality of life,\u201d he said. \u201cHow dare that doctor ask a question like that when he would not ask it of someone with a similar case of pneumonia but had a so-called normal life? We ask people to just observe the crushing oppression of disabled people and the free-loading ideas in society that some people are better off dead than alive. I could be a poster boy for the \u2018better dead than disabled\u2019 movement.\u201d<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Stephanie Packer, a Californian with her own history with assisted suicide, has continued to fight its legalization across the country. Packer was fighting cancer and her insurance company refused to cover treatment, offering to pay for assisted suicide drugs instead. She pointed out that California factored how much money assisted suicide would save when it was being considered in the state legislature.<\/p>\n

\u201cCalifornia predicted beforehand that they would save money by covering lethal drugs,\u201d she said. \u201c[Assisted suicide] is not who we are as people,\u201d said Parker. \u201cThere are better ways. The voices of patients are being silenced right now, and they\u2019re vulnerable of everything being pulled off because of money.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cLike\u201d Live Action News on Facebook<\/a>\u00a0for more pro-life news and commentary!<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A group of physicians and disability activists in Massachusetts are warning that legalizing assisted suicide would hurt the state’s most vulnerable citizens. At a press conference last week, the group, led by Dr. Laura Petrillo, said the poor, the disabled, and communities of color would be disproportionately impacted if the legislation is passed. In 2020, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":192448,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false},"categories":[15,4,3473],"tags":[1303,455,13310,498,295,275,2158,6824,13309],"yoast_head":"\nMassachusetts doctors: Vulnerable citizens feel 'threatened' by assisted suicide legislation<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"A group of physicians and disability activists in Massachusetts are warning that legalizing assisted suicide would hurt the most vulnerable citizens.\" \/>\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\/massachusetts-doctors-vulnerable-threatened-assisted-suicide\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" 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