Slippery Slope? Of Course It Is

Here’s an excellent piece about the dangers of legalizing assisted killing.

The slippery slope of assisted suicide

Proponents of physician-assisted suicide tell us that there is no danger of a slippery slope, that in Oregon the cases are "not that numerous" and are "carefully monitored." I hope that reasonable people will question these claims and reflect further on whether a law with insufficient safeguards is what we want in the commonwealth.

Slippery slope arguments involve small decisions that lead to undesirable outcomes that never would have been supported at the outset. Often, it is impossible to prove that one small step will have significant negative effects, but common sense allows reasonable people to judge the likelihood that a sequence of events that have happened in one place are likely to happen in another place in a similar way. more

More On Current Massachusetts Assisted Suicide Debate

Here’s more on the current assisted suicide debate in Massachusetts ahead of the November ballot initiative seeking to legalize the practice.

Massachusetts weighs ballot measure allowing doctor-assisted suicides

In 2010, a Boston doctor diagnosed Heather Clish's father with brain cancer, giving him only six months to live. Lee Johnson didn't want to suffer and decided to end his life.

"It was very important to him to die with grace amid all the indignities that he was enduring," Heather said, as she walked along the Boston Common. "It was important to him to control that process of dying."

However, the state of Massachusetts does not give the dying that much control -- barring all forms of doctor-assisted suicide. more

Massachusetts's Disability Community Opposes Pro-Death Ballot Measure

Opposition stiffens among the disability community to Massachusetts’s ballot initiative seeking to legalize assisted suicide.

Disability Rights leaders reach out to Elizabeth Warren regarding 'No On 2'

State and national disability rights/social justice advocates are asking Massachusetts United States Senate candidate Elizabeth Warren to meet about Ballot Question 2 and discuss their reasons for strongly opposing this measure to legalize assisted suicide. The disability rights leaders include: John Kelly - Executive Director of Second Thoughts and former Chair of the Boston Disability Advisory Commission, Karen Shneiderman - Senior Advocacy Specialist for Boston Center for Independent Living Inc, Marilyn Golden - Senior Policy Analyst for the Disability Rights Education & Defense Fund, Michael Muehe - Cambridge Commission for Persons with Disabilities and Diane Coleman - President of Not Dead Yet.  All are part of the diverse coalition urging Massachusetts voters to say 'No' to Ballot Question 2.

"Ballot question 2 contains a number of problematic issues that raise red flags with progressive voters. These are arguments and perspectives Ms. Warren may not have heard yet, and are asking for the opportunity to meet and brief her and her team," said John Kelly, Executive Director of Second Thoughts and former Chair of the Advisory Board to the Boston Disability Commission. more

Massachusetts' Debate On Legalizing Assisted Suicide

Here’s a debate on the upcoming Massachusetts’ ballot initiative seeking to legalize assisted suicide in the state.

Mass. Voters To Weigh In On ‘Death With Dignity’ Act

This November, Massachusetts voters will decide whether the state should allow physician-assisted suicide for some terminally-ill patients.

For a closer look, WBUR’s Bob Oakes spoke with people on both sides. John Kelly, a disabilities activist and founder of the group Second Thoughts, opposes the ballot question. Dr. Marcia Angell, a senior lecturer at Harvard Medical School and former editor of the New England Journal of Medicine, supports it. more

As Goes Oregon, So Will Death Go In Massachusetts

Here’s the grisly truth about legal assisted suicide in Oregon, and what it will mean if similar laws are passed in Massachusetts.

The Oregon Health Plan Steers Patients to Suicide

Yesterday, the Canadian Department of Justice filed evidence in Leblanc v. Canada, including the affidavit of Oregon doctor Ken Stevens.  Therein, Dr. Stevens talks about his patient, Jeanette Hall.  He also describes how with legal assisted suicide, the Oregon Health Plan steers patients to suicide.  His affidavit concludes:

"The Oregon Health Plan is a government health plan administered by the State of Oregon. If assisted suicide is legalized in Canada, your government health plan could follow a similar pattern. If so, the plan will pay for a patient to die, but not to live." more

Massachusetts' Pro-Death Spin

Here’s the pro-deather spin on the upcoming Massachusetts ballot initiative seeking to legalize assisted suicide.

Deserving of dignity

Question 2 on November’s ballot asks voters to legalize what most of us call assisted suicide. “Death with Dignity” is the term used by its proponents, including the former editor of the New England Journal of Medicine, Marcia Angell.

Angell has weighed the question both as a physician and as the daughter of an engineer and World War II vet who, suffering from cancer, violently took his own life. more