Yesterday, the full Senate debated Senate Bill 311-End of Life Option Act. If passed, this legislation would have legalized physician-assisted suicide in the State of Maryland. Senate Bill 311 failed by a vote of 23-23. I am proud to have spoken out on the Senate Floor and voted against this flawed legislation.
This type of legislation is flawed on so many levels. There is no way to predict an accurate prognosis, no safeguards for individuals with disabilities, no family notification required, no identification required for pickup, no doctor or nurse present when a patient ingests the lethal dosage, no drug take-back plan, and no way to prevent insurance fraud. The American Medical Association’s Code of Medical Ethics states that “physician-assisted suicide is fundamentally incompatible with the physician’s role as healer.”
Also, I am very concerned that legalizing physician-assisted suicide (PAS) would make suicide socially acceptable and would increase overall suicide rates in Maryland. Every state that has passed a physician-assisted suicide law has seen an increase in non-assisted suicides. Since passing a PAS law in 1977, Oregon has seen a 49.3 percent increase in non-assisted suicide. While we won today, I will continue to speak out against any and all attempts to legalize physician-assisted suicide in Maryland.
27 comments:
What a crock...If someone wants to die let them.
Cradle to grave control by the government. Way to impose unnecessary and prolonged suffering on your constituency.
Thank you Senator
Good move. With the liberals anyone over the age of 70 will be required to commit suicide.
I am glad they voted it down.
possible scenario: Insurance denies cancer patients life-saving drug coverage, but approves "end of life" drugs to treat them.
What is meant for mercy will somehow be manipulated for gain.
If you don't see that coming your a fool!
Thank You Senator , Its hard being right in a cesspool of leftist idiots
The likely next step is refusing to treat someone who is elderly instead they will be required to be put to sleep.(death)
No one talks about it but I have been through this with a dying loved one and with home Hospice care. The combination of drugs they give for pain and comfort that you are instructed to give basically do the job in a very short order considering the patient is no longer eating or drinking. I am not disparaging Hospice in any way these people are angels but when I had concerns I felt I was basically euthanizing them they gave me the hush look.
I have no regrets. I gave them a quiet dignified death in their own home in their own bed and family and friends had all come for a last good bye. They had been in and out of hospital for years and had a good run but were just done.
The physician actually had to approve Hospice care so in affect was assistant.The drugs Hospice used had his name on them as prescriber .
Thank you MBC!
Would life insurance pay off in these cases???
Without those safeguards, and even with the ones in the bill, it could easily be a law to permit murder. Think about people with far fewer scruples than you.
Good thing the government is there to protect all you right wingers from deciding for yourselves whether or not you want to continue to suffer with end stage cancer. Thank you, nanny-state! Protect me! Cradle me in your loving bureaucratic arms!
I hope you never have to suffer or witness the suffering of a loved one dying from end stage cancer. I've personally witnessed it myself too many times. It's the worst thing you can force upon someone, especially when they are there begging to die because they can't stand it any more.
God gives us life and God takes our life. It should not be a decision for anyone else to make.
This isn't saying that the concept is wrong,, it's saying that the law needs to be better written.
As I said, insurance companies will use this. And YES, I have witnessed a love one suffer and I do think that ending their suffering is merciful. Hospice makes them comfortable and it does in a way help them pass peacefully, but just as 2:23 says, the law needs to better written. No insurance company should be allowed to decide to Euthanize you or deny coverage to save you. That should not be their choice! Again, you are a fool if you think that this method of mercy will not be misused. Wait and see.
Well God gave us the compassion and gifts of science to not just rot in his imperfect and crumbling garden. Go ahead die in pain and torture and meet your maker. I am sure he knows your name and who you are and vanquishes you in the after life like Muslim with great gifts of virgins and eternal bliss. Just Die it's simple biodegration.
There is not a more basic human right, than the right of self-determination. If I do not wish to exist anymore that is my right and only mine. You can decide for you, but not for me. If your faith and God says for you to remain on this earth until the undignified, painful torture has run it's full course, then do so. But your God may not be my God, and my religious beliefs are protected by the US Constitution. So waste elsewhere you condemnations, please.
3:00 you must be a charm to be around. No only Muslims get the virgins. Maybe a little less time reading about biodegradation and a little study on Christianity. Humility is a human trait and the garden must appear to you that it is crumbling. A person with no faith can not have a soul can they. I find it sad that so many like you you who are in their final hours find God when he was there all along. So if I kill your mother is that environmental degradation. In your world what is the harm in killing another mass of cells right. See you on the other side maybe.
Thank you, Mary Beth. You did the right thing; proud you're our Senator.
10:57 Unfortunatley that’s already happening.
Mary Beth got bought off by pharmaceutical companies
nonononononononono
Sarah Palin called them death panels. She called it & here it is.
Sarah Palin predicted this. Now here it is.
The insurance companies soon won't have to deny you coverage for a condition. They just price the medicine so high that you can't afford to buy it. My mother has severe RA and has had it for 40 years. The only "affordable" drug that she used for those 40 years has stopped working. They then prescribed her a drug that she had to go to the hospital and get "infused." This worked for a while until the hospital no longer did the infusions. Now they have prescribed medicine that cost $5400.00 per month. She is 82 and on social security. How in the world is she supposed to pay for that? She can't.
Has any one seen a person die of cancer, the pain is unbelievable and just as bad for the love ones waiting and watching.
Post a Comment