Monday, October 24, 2011

Assisted Suicide being proposed in Vermont - Again!

If there is one thing you can count on in Vermont it is that there will be an assisted suicide bill introduced in the Legislative session.

How many times does the Vermont legislature need to defeat a bill or determine that the "supposed safeguards" are not sufficient to protect Vermont citizens?

Media reports have confirmed that:

"In the upcoming legislative session a bill will again be introduced that will make Vermont the first state to legislatively (as opposed to citizen-driven) enact a Death with Dignity (DWD) law. Once again Vermont has a chance to lead the way in progressive policies and laws"
It is significant that there has never been a state that legalizes assisted suicide through a State legislature. Further to that, the previous bills in Vermont were "Oregon style assisted suicide" acts that were defeated or put aside because the lacked support.

It should concern Vermont citizens that the State Health Care Reform has connected the legalization of assisted suicide with cost savings in health care.

The editor of the Addison Independent said Kimbell, the man who will administer the implementation of the health care reform, told him that legalizing assisted suicide would be helpful in cutting health care costs in Vermont.

Lets be clear. Governor Peter Shumlin received campaign contributions from the suicide lobby, from out-of-state because he promised to legalize assisted suicide in Vermont. Shumlin did not have the political support to legalize assisted suicide in his first year.


The Vermont legislature needs to tell Shumlin that they will not save health care dollars on the backs of vulnerable citizens by legalizing assisted suicide.

3 comments:

Ran3dy said...

Impressive! You quoted humble little ME as a media source!

--Ran3dy Bright

Patrick Haffey said...

Without Prejudice;
Assisted Suicide is a terrible idea. I doubt very much if Peter Shumlin would appreciate his name being placed on the list. Assisted Suicide will be abused in Vermont just as it has been in other parts of the world.
Patrick Haffey

Ran3dy said...

Patrick: our governor has always bee a staunch supporter of death with dignity (not assisted suicide; read on), so I'm not sure what list you're referring to him not wanting his name on.

If you have valid, verified information of abuses of assisted suicide in any part of the world where it is legal, please share links, because to my knowledge there has been no widespread of laws such as the one that Vermont will be considering. Of course, there will always be incidental and separate abuses of any law, no matter how well written--that's just how certain members of society act. But we cannot let the fact that there may be a few isolated abuses of a good law stop us from moving in the right direction. While it does not reach perfection, the law before Vermont legislators is good, solid, and specifically designed to thwart abuses such as you fear.

The first thing we must do in order to respectfully debate an issue is to speak truth, and know the subject matter. This bill is not assisted suicide, nor is it euthanasia. It is a bill designed to empower the terminally ill to decide on his or her end of life. The patient is the one who should decide, and this bill respects that decision.