The following letter was written by Mike Moe from Great Falls Montana and published online by the Ravalli Republic paper concerning his support for Montana Bill HB 505, that would protect Montana citizens from assisted suicide, based on the care that his mother did not receive when she died.

Physician-assisted suicide legislation needed to avoid making bad situation worse

I am writing to urge your readers to tell their legislators to vote “yes“on House Bill 505. The hearing was this past Tuesday in the Senate Judiciary Committee.

A yes vote will prevent doctors and nurses from having more power to cause patient deaths. They abuse the power they already have. Please consider my mother’s story below.

My mother, Sharon Moe, was diagnosed with colon cancer in February of this year. After her surgery, I was told that she may be able to live for six months to two years. My mother was against assisted suicide and euthanasia and wanted to live as long as possible. She was placed on a continual feed through a feeding tube which hospice wanted to discontinue and they did.

My mother did not get the chance to live on longer as she had willed, but her death was hastened by dehydration and starvation after removing the continual feeding. My mother was not experiencing any pain and would tell someone if she had it. There were some apparent abuses and some subtle abuses.

These abuses will be multiplied many fold if physician-assisted suicide is legalized in Montana. If they are doing this while assisted suicide is illegal, what will they do when assisted suicide is legalized?

The recent guest column by Dr. Stephen Speckart and other doctors claims that assisted suicide is already legal. For that reason, I support House Bill 505, which clearly states that assisted suicide is not legal. We have enough abuse already. Please tell your Senator to vote for HB505 to stop a bad situation from getting worse.

Mike Moe,Great Falls