Playing God or Dignified Death.

I find the title of articles about assisted suicide to be interesting at best. The assertion of such a title is that the issue is about religion or a dignified death.

The title of this Blog comment is taken from the article by The Seattle PI reporter - John Iwasaki who wrote about the religious involvement in the Washington State I-1000 assisted suicide Initiative.

What is most important about this article is that it points out that religious people are concerned about the assisted suicide debate in Washington State, but others are also concerned about assisted suicide from a secular point-of-view.

The article states that:

The Washington State Medical Association opposes I-1000, stating that "physician assisted suicide is fundamentally incompatible with the role of physicians as healers." The association also says that recent advances in palliative medicine provide doctor and patients with the ability to control pain and other end-of-life symptoms.

Iwasaki missed the most important group who oppose assisted suicide that being the disability rights community. The disability rights community have been active in opposing the I-1000 assisted suicide Initiative under the leadership of Not Dead Yet - Washington represented by Duane French and Marilyn Golden from the Disability Research Education group.

The disability rights movement recognizes that assisted suicide directly effects the human rights of people with disabilities. The voice of people with disabilities needs to be heard for people in Washington State to understand the real secular and human rights arguements that oppose assisted suicide.

Link to the article in the Seattle PI news:
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com:80/local/383018_suicidefaith13.html