Physician-assisted suicide expected to be an issue in Maryland General Assembly

When Deacon T. Brian Callister, an internal medicine specialist and permanent deacon at Our Lady of the Snows in Reno, Nev., requested lifesaving procedures for two of his patients, one in Oregon and another one in California, the insurance medical directors told him they would not cover their treatments but instead suggested physician-assisted suicide.

It was a wake-up call on how dangerous it can be for states to legalize the ending of the lives of people suffering with serious medical conditions.

Deacon Callister is urging Marylanders and many other states not to follow the path of California, Colorado, District of Columbia, Hawaii, Montana, Maine, New Jersey, New Mexico, Oregon, Vermont and Washington, as some lawmakers here prepare to make another push to legalize physician-assisted suicide. 

According to Jennifer Kraska, executive director of Maryland Catholic Conference, the public policy arm of the state’s Catholic bishops, Maryland will most likely see another bill to legalize physician-assisted suicide during the upcoming 2022 legislative session beginning Jan. 12, when bills will be introduced. Numerous previous attempts to advance the legislation have failed.

She said the main proponent of the legislation, in Maryland and across the country, is a group called Compassion & Choices that “will not stop until physician-assisted suicide is in every state in the country.”

“Our responsibility as Catholics is to be a voice for the voiceless, the most vulnerable and those at the periphery of society,” Kraska said. “Those most likely to be harmed by this dangerous legislation are racial and ethnic minorities, the poor, the elderly and those with disabilities.”

The Maryland Catholic Conference held two webinars about physician-assisted suicide to educate people on this issue. Auxiliary Bishop Bruce A. Lewandowski, C.Ss.R., moderated a Spanish webinar Oct. 14, with radiologist Dr. Grazie Pozo Christie as guest speaker.

Christie noted disabled groups are among the first ones whose lives will be threatened under these types of laws. 

“They will be the first ones told, ‘Look, life for you is very difficult, it is better for you to not be a burden for the state, your families and for your own. It is better to say goodbye.’” 

She said this is already happening with abortion. When disabled women are pregnant, they are pushed to have an abortion. 

“When a baby is detected in the womb of a disabled woman, abortion is enforced,” she said. “Every time, this is more common.”

Christie said when the state starts selecting who lives and who should die, it will quickly become a question of who deserves to live. The smart, rich and useful are the ones who will prevail, she said. 

Supporters of physician-assisted suicide advocate for so-called “death with dignity,” but ignore quality medical care, such as life-saving procedures, palliative care and hospice care. PAS goes against the teachings of the Catholic Church, in which life is sacred from conception to natural death.

Molly Sheahan, former MCC associate director for respect life advocacy, moderated a webinar in English Oct. 8. The featured panelists were internal medicine specialist Dr. Marie-Alberte Boursiquot, disability rights activist Anita Cameron and psychiatrist Annette L. Hanson. 

Physician-assisted suicide is a form of suicide in which a medical physician prescribes for a terminally ill patient a large number of lethal pills or a “cocktail,” a mix of drugs. The patient fills the prescription, consumes the drugs and dies.

Hanson noted the procedure lacks supervision. Physicians who prescribe the drugs are not required to have any previous training before prescribing such drugs. Also, a medical care provider is not required to be present and supervise the death process.

“Physician-assisted suicide is not medical care,” said Boursiquot, a parishioner of the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Baltimore. “Physicians do not kill, we care.” 

According to Hanson, a psychological or psychiatric evaluation would not be required before prescribing suicide drugs.

“Once you make pain or suffering the basis of a lethal prescription then you’ve automatically roped in people with mental illness,” Hanson said.

Cameron noted that, many times, patients live more than expected, and their experiences and memories made in that time would not be possible with physician-assisted suicide. She noted that when her mother was diagnosed to be at the end stage of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, Cameron was told to see her within the next two days if she wanted to see her mother again while she was alive. However, her mother survived six months of hospice care and even lived 12 more years while being active in her community. 

Opponents of physician-assisted suicide point out that overall suicide rates tend increase every year in states where physician-assisted suicide is legal, such as in Oregon. 

According to Oregon Health Authority, Oregon’s suicide rate exceeded the national rate for every age group in 2017.

“It is vitally important that opponents of this deadly and dangerous legislation let their elected officials know their position,” said Kraska, who urged Maryland residents to sign up for the Maryland Catholic Conference’s Advocacy Network to receive information and alerts regarding physician-assisted suicide and other key public policy and legislative issues.

To learn more about physician-assisted suicide visit https://www.mdcatholic.org/pas.

Email Priscila González de Doran at pdoran@CatholicReview.org

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