Press Release
True Compassion Advocates
Advocating for seriously ill people and offering positive alternatives to assisted suicide.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
September 14th, 2009
PRESS ADVISORY: WASHINGTON'S FIRST 6 MONTHS OF ASSISTED SUICIDE. True Compassion Advocates calls assisted suicide in Washington "tragic, lethal, and unnecessary."
Eileen Geller, Hospice, RN, and President of True Compassion Advocates (TCA), called the fatalities from Washington State's first six months of legalized assisted suicide "a tragedy," especially in view of state health care cuts affecting poor and disabled people. She said: "Twenty-eight ill people have requested lethal, life-ending drugs. At the same time, thousands of other Washingtonians have received the message that they, too, are expendable." She went on to say that: "In the context of the health care debate, and Washington State's draconian health care cuts, this news is especially disturbing."
The hospice nurse explained that it was "impossible to say with any accuracy how many people have died from assisted suicide in Washington in the first six months." She reported that Washington State's Department of Health (DOH) claimed that 16 people have died from lethal prescriptions so far this year, while the pro-assisted suicide group, Compassion & Choices, says the number of deaths stands at 11. "That's something like a 30% discrepancy, and we're only half way through the first year of assisted suicide's legalization," Geller stated.
She noted that in Oregon, where assisted suicide is also legal, the per-year rate of physician-assisted suicide deaths has actually tripled over the first ten years of it being legalized, continuing to trend upward. At the same time, Oregon's rate of suicide by the elderly has also increased steadily, giving it one of the highest rates of suicide among older people in the country. She continued: "There is no reason not to expect disturbingly similar suicide and assisted suicide fatality rates here in Washington."
"But at least Oregon has listed 'Death with Dignity' (assisted suicide) as the cause of death on its death certificates," she said. "In Washington, because physicians and medical examiners are REQUIRED to falsify death certificates and list the cause of death as the underlying disease rather than an intentional lethal overdose of barbiturates, the state's official suicide fatality numbers are rendered meaningless."
"If Washington's Department of Health had no independent means of verifying how many prisoners died each year in the state from capital punishment via barbiturate overdose, but was utterly dependant on 'self-reporting' from capital punishment enthusiasts, how meaningful would the numbers be? And how bizarre would it be if the state's prison physicians were required by statute to lie, falsely reporting that the prisoners had died, not of a lethal drug overdose, but of some underlying disease or condition?" Geller suggested.
"Why then, is the premature and unnatural death by assisted suicide of those who are depressed and ill, or disabled, any different?" she asked.
Chris Carlson, a Parkinson's sufferer and cancer survivor, reacted to the news of the death rate from assisted suicide in his state by saying, "What a travesty."
"This new law is a nightmare for people like myself, who are battling cancer or Parkinson's, and are medically vulnerable," he stated. "I've talked to folks who are worried about being a burden to loved ones, or who haven't enough money for quality health care. Like me, they believe that Washington's assisted suicide law pressures sick people to die prematurely and unnaturally, rather than receive the care and support needed."
Carlson, a voluntary chair for the Coalition Against Assisted Suicide during Washington's Initiative 1000 campaign last year, stated that: "I'm a senior citizen, too. The plain truth is that Washington's assisted suicide law is a recipe for elder abuse. It's so chock full of regulatory holes, there is literally no way to make it safe, for seniors, for people with disabilities, or for anybody else."
Carlson also noted that pro-assisted suicide coercion can be a subtle message, telling the elderly or those who are seriously ill, that: "Your care is too expensive" or "Your life isn't worth living."
Or it can be extremely overt-like a family member trying to convince Grandma that she's a burden, and should consider committing assisted suicide, Carlson suggested.
Geller explained that, as a hospice nurse, she has had over 25 years experience in taking care of many thousands of people with life-limiting illnesses, and their families.
She stated: "Assisted suicide is never medically necessary. With the help of excellent medical and hospice care, pain can be completely controlled, and end-of-life symptoms managed well so that patients can live with real dignity and die naturally and comfortably"
She said that in view of United Nations attention to World Suicide Prevention Day on September 10th, it is important to recognize that "suicide and assisted suicide are a cry for help. People who are ill and suicidal need treatment for depression, excellent medical and psychiatric care, and community support, not lethal drug overdoses."
Geller concluded: "Assisted suicide in Washington isn't safe, legal, or rare. It's tragic, lethal, and unnecessary."
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For further information, contact Eileen Geller, RN, BSN. Phone: 206-366-2715
.Eileen@truecompassionadvocates.org