St. Paul, Minn., Sep 12, 2019 / 04:01 pm (CNA).- More than 200 people attended an informational hearing of a Minnesota House committee Wednesday that listened to testimony regarding an assisted suicide bill, which is unlikely to advance in the Republican-led Senate.
Among those testifying against the End-of-Life Options Act was Kathy Ware, who cares for her 21-year-old son Kylen, who has multiple disabilities.
“My son is not undignified because I have to help him use the bathroom,” Ware said Sept. 11, according to the St. Paul Pioneer Press. “This bill makes a public statement by law that death is better than living with a disability like Kylen.”
The bill is sponsored by Rep. Mike Freiberg of the Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party. It would allow a mentally capable adult with a terminal illness who has six months or fewer to live to be prescribed life-ending medication. A second doctor would have to confirm the terminally ill adult’s situation.
The manner of death of those who commit assisted suicide would be “listed as the underlying terminal illness and not as a suicide or homicide.”
The bill says that “a person who has custody or control of medical aid-in-dying medication … that remains unused after the terminally ill adult’s death shall dispose of the unused medical aid-in-dying medication by lawful means according to state and federal guidelines including: (1) returning the unused medical aid-in-dying medication to a federally approved medication take-back program or mail-back program; or (2) returning the unused medical aid-in-dying medication to the local or state police departments who shall dispose of the medication by lawful means.”
In Oregon, where assisted suicide was legalized in 1997, doctors have written 2,217 prescriptions for lethal medication, and about two-thirds of those who were prescribed them, 1,459, have died from the drugs.
The Minnesota bill would allow health care providers to choose not to provide assisted suicide, but requires the provider to “make reasonable efforts to accommodate the terminally ill adult’s request including transferring care of the terminally ill adult to a new health care provider.”
Health care facilities would be able to bar their employees from providing assisted suicide only if the terminally ill person intends to take the medication “on the facility’s premises.”
The bill also declares that what it terms “aid-in-dying” does not constitute suicide or assisted suicide.
Marianne Turnbull, a St. Paul resident who has cancer and supports the bill, said at the hearing of the House Health and Human Services Policy Committee that “when the time comes, I want a good death. I want to die at home surrounded by people who love me.”
Stephanie Packer travelled from California to testify against the bill, the Star Tribune reported. Packer has pulmonary fibrosis, and said her insurer stopped covering several of her medications after assisted suicide was legalized in her home state, and she was told her copay for assisted suicide medication would be only $1.20.
“If there are other options out there to save them money, they are good businesspeople, and they are going to do it,” she said of insurance companies.
A Nevada physician, Dr. T. Brian Callister, warned that with legal assisted suicide, “what we are going to see is a movement towards the cheapest treatment” by insurers. “The cheapest treatment is the medicine that is going to kill you.”
Senator John Hoffman, DFL-Champlin, told the AP that insurers could pressure the elderly and disabled to use assisted suicide medication, and said, “I think people with disabilities should be pretty concerned.”
Rep. Anne Neu questioned at the hearing how many people would choose assisted suicide “in fear of being a burden on their families.”
The state’s bishops are among the religious leaders opposed to the bill.
At the hearing, Asad Zaman of the Muslim American Society of Minnesota noted his opposition to the bill, while Harlan Limpert, a Unitarian Universalist minister, indicated his support.
Senator Michelle Benson, R-Ham Lake, who chairs the Minnesota Senate Health and Human Services Committee, said shortly after the House committee’s hearing that “physician-assisted suicide is a dangerous policy and we will not hear it in the Senate.”
“Many of those opposed to state-sanctioned suicide are in the mental health and disability community because when people are vulnerable, they are at the greatest risk of outside influence clouding their personal judgement,” she noted. “When people are facing difficult decisions or even desperation, the state should not be telling them ending their life is a way out.”
Benson suggested palliative care as a “life-affirming” alternative, and said: “In fact, we proposed a palliative care commission to discuss policy options that would support palliative care, but House Democrats opposed the bill.”
“Senate Republicans have increased funding and expanded health care access to those with mental health issues in recent years. It frightens me to consider someone who may be having suicidal ideation could be told that suicide is a positive choice for their life. Let’s be clear: it is not. Whether it’s done by a medical professional or an individual’s tragic decision, suicide hurts those left behind,” she stated.
“Finally, if physician-assisted suicide becomes law, it may be easier for some to remind those with a high level of care that it is cheaper for them to die than to keep them alive. The cost of care is not how we determine the value of someone’s life.”
The state legislature will not reconvene until February 2020.
In the US, assisted suicide is legal in California, Colorado, Hawaii, Oregon, Vermont, Washington, and the District of Columbia, and in Montana by a court ruling. A law allowing it in Maine will take effect Jan. 1, 2020, and a law legalizing it in New Jersey is on hold while it is being challenged in court.
In Colorado, a Colorado man who has cancer and his doctor have filed a suit against a Catholic health system alleging that its policy barring doctors from participating in assisted suicide violates state law.
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“He likes to call himself a devout catholic. I would urge him (Biden) to begin acting like one, especially on the life issues,” Archbishop Joseph Naumann said. “And to let his faith really inform his conscience and the decisions he is making, not the platform of his party.”
Well, that should do it. Based on this admonition I expect that Biden will now become the most pro-life president we have ever had.
Does anyone believe that Biden will change his spots based on this statement. Is the Archbishop, and are other bishops, making statements like this in the belief that gullible Catholics think that something worthwhile is being done?
I think the upcoming bishops meeting and the proposed document on the Eucharist will tell us much. If nothing is addressed at the scandal that prominent pro-abortion catholic politicians are causing, we will know that their talk is empty.
And a statement, with no names, and seemingly addressed to a nameless bipartisan group of politicians, will not fly.
I strongly differ with Archbishop Naumann.
The Biden administration is not “in the control of abortion extremists.”
The Biden administration ARE the abortion extremists, and all-abortion-all-the-time is their defining issue, their driving force, their litmus test, their animating principle, their end-all and their be-all.
The Democrats’ commitment to abortion is second only to their absolute, unwavering, monomaniacal thirst for power.
And it’s a very close second.
Only an extremely foolish man, who does not fear God would boast to the world about how holy and righteous he is, all the while publically and privately commiting evil deeds and endorsing the works of Satan. It’s truly sad not just for a career politician like Biden but for our entire beloved nation.
I salute you for the courage to state that — “all the while publically and privately committing evil deeds and endorsing the works of Satan.”
Sadly, most of our Bishops fear CNN more than they fear God.
Given that the House Speaker met the Pope and received no admonishment, there is no reason not to expect the same for Joe at Halloween.
Bishop Naumann is being what the pope calls “pastoral” in calling out Chairman Joe for the split personality of his soul; that is, personally (supposedly) being against abortion but not inflicting his belief on others. Jesus didn’t tell the Apostles, “Here’s the Gospel, but keep it to yourselves.” I don’t see that this pope has what it takes to be truly “pastoral,” in teaching what it takes to attain eternal life. He’s busy sucking up to Nancy Pelosi and leaving the impression that she’s doing okay. He will do the same when he sees Chairman Joe later this month. Pastoral requires intestinal fortitude. Pope Francis has yet to show any.
The 7 Gifts of the Holy Spirit are what all wayward bishops and priests and deacons need to have a good retreat upon and then all will know what it means to be pastoral toward the family members of the Lords’ church.
Biden needs to go back to the basics; his head is messed up
May God have mercy on his soul. May God have mercy on our country. Come, Lord Jesus Christ!
The Devils Workshop has to add another shift with Biden/Obama,and Pelosi,Soros,Jarrett,
and the Clinton’s behind the “Curtains” pulling the levers and strings.That make their
consistency dance and sing. We even see how a certain percentage of RINOS love to get on the floor, and clapping their hands join the Devils Dance down to the River Styx.Where Charon waits to welcome them aboard !
I’M GOING TO MAKE A COMMENT NOW AND ITS GOING TO BE BRUTALLY HONEST. I JUST HOPE & PRAY THAT ITS TAKEN IN THAT SPIRIT. SO HERE GOES: I’M SICK TO DEATH OF HEARING JUST HOW ‘DEVOUT’ ALLEGED ‘PRESIDENT’ BIDEN IS. (THINK ‘STOP THE STEAL’) ALSO, BESIDES HIS VERY OBVIOUS SPOTTY RECORD IN DEFENDING HIS “WIN,” THERE’S ALSO HIS HORRIFYING RECORD OF BEING POSSIBLY THE WORST EVER PRESIDENT IN PUSHING ABORTION ON DEMAND NATIONALLY & INTERNATIONALLY. YE GODS, THE MAN NEVER STOPS, THE DEMONIC GIFT JUST KEEPS GIVING. ‘NUFF SAID, THAT’S MY STAND. MAY GOD BLESS ALL.
Finally someone from the USCCB is standing up on two righteous and apostolic feet!
It’s pretty late now for Bishops to condemn Biden. They should have confronted him before the election and he might not have won. I am not a fan of Trump but Biden and his administration are a disaster.
It is so easy to put down and criticize the behavior of others, but my remember that only God knows the truth of our hearts and the state of our souls. Perhaps my faith is too “simplistic.”