Making Assisted Suicide Seductive

The media love stories such as this one in the Oregonian, byline Don Colburn; of the “fiercely independent” man or woman who decides the time has come to die through assisted suicide. From the story:

Lovelle Svart woke up Friday knowing it was the day she would die. There was much to do. Her family and closest friends would be gathering at 11 a.m. in her mother’s apartment in the Southwest Portland assisted-living center where they both lived.

She directed trips to the grocery store and even called AAA to jump-start the dead battery of her 2006 Scion. She double-checked delivery of food platters from Fred Meyer: turkey sandwiches, strawberries and grapes, pretzels, almonds and sparkling water. There would be pink roses on the dining table and made one last trip to “the bridge,” a wooden footbridge in a nearby park where she had found quiet sanctuary the past few weeks as painful cancerous tumors spread from her lungs through her chest and her throat.

The consummate planner, she had choreographed the day. She wanted to leave time—five or so hours—for storytelling, polka dancing and private goodbyes. And at 4 p.m., she intended to drink a fatal dose of medication, allowed by Oregon law, that would end her life.

Assisted suicide activists often sell their agenda as a last resort, a safety valve, reserved for patients for whom nothing can be done to alleviate suffering. But note that such requirements are not part of the law itself (nor any legislation I have ever seen put forward) and are rarely present in actual cases that are reported in the media.

What I also find tragic is that many people will read the story and think it is uplifting. But assisted suicide is a stake through the heart of the hospice philosophy of caring for people until they die naturally. It accepts the idea that there are lives no longer worthy of being protected. It validates the worst fears of suicidal persons that they are burdens, will be allowed to die in agony, that life has no further meaning, etc.. And it interferes with proper hospice care by not informing the hospice team that a patient wants to kill themselves so that proper interventions can be rendered—which often help the patient change their minds.

I would also point out that I have a friend with terminal lung cancer who was given only 3 months to live. That was seven years ago and still counting.

Tragic. Sad. And alas, seductive. But expect these stories to continue—choreographed as this one clearly was by assisted suicide advocacy groups.