Right-to-die group targets ‘99 Legislature

Thursday, Oct. 9, 1997 | 10:58 a.m.

To die or not to die is not really the question.

There is no question, of course, that everyone is going to die.

But the Hemlock Society believes, using strict guidelines, terminally ill people have the right to take the question out of when their death will occur.

Sunday, the head of the Denver-based organization will join the Nevada chapter at the Clark County Library, 1401 E. Flamingo Road, to discuss the issue of physician-assisted suicide and plans for trying to legalize it in the 1999 legislative session.

The meeting begins at 3 p.m. and is open to the public.

Executive Director Faye Girsh is the featured speaker.

"We're letting people know what we are planning on doing," said Lovette Caples, leader of Hemlock Society's Nevada chapter. "The meeting is free, and pro and con points of view are welcome."

Caples notes that "right-to-die" legislation has been introduced in 20 states and voted on in five.

The Hemlock Society, which has 25,000 members nationally and 110 in the Las Vegas region, supports legislation that has strict rules.

"In spite of what our opposition says, this is something that is a patient right only -- no one else has a right to suggest it," said Caples. "The patient must initiate the request, then there has to be a waiting period to make sure it was not just said out of depression or immediate pain and then they must request it again.

"Two physicians must agree that this person has less than six months to live. There would be a number of safeguards built into this. Naturally we are not looking to end the life of anyone prematurely. We don't want to end the life of anyone, period, but we don't think a terminally ill person should be put in the position of begging loved ones to break the law to end their suffering."

Oregon was the first to make physician-assisted suicide legal when it enacted a law in 1994. The law was challenged by the Christian Coalition and the Catholic Church and eventually overturned.

This past June, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled unanimously that terminally ill people do not have a constitutional right to doctor-assisted suicide.

Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist, whose wife died in 1991 after a long battle with ovarian cancer, wrote the decision. He said the idea of having someone help end another's life conflicts with "our nation's history, legal traditions and practices."

Though the right is not protected under the Constitution, it is not expressly prohibited and therefore states have the right to decide the issue for themselves.

Oregon is slated to vote on another right-to-die law in November and Michigan, home to Dr. Jack Kevorkian, is to vote on the issue in 1998.

The Michigan medical doctor has gained international attention for his assistance in numerous suicides by terminally ill people.

Though the Hemlock Society and Kevorkian do not agree on many inherent issues in assisted suicides, Caples credits the physician with increased public awareness on the subject.

"This is part of a national movement. More and more states are doing it, and a lot of it has to do with Dr. Kevorkian," said Caples. "Dr. Kevorkian has shoved this issue in everyone's face.

"Up until now death was something we have never been able to speak of even when we know our loved one is dying. It's a taboo. We can't bring ourselves to say a loved one is dying. We can't be honest with the dying person. I receive phone calls at least once a week from someone who is dying who just wants to talk about it. Their family is not acknowledging it and so I've become a sympathetic ear.

"Unfortunately, there is no way we are going to get out of life alive, but it is the most taboo subject. We can talk about AIDS, we can talk about abortion and infidelity but not about death. Terminal patients generally die very, very lonely because they have never been able to be heard."

Caples said the Hemlock Society disagrees with Kevorkian when he supports the assisted suicide of any terminally ill person.

"He is not a member of our society and what he is doing is contrary to what we want," she said. "He is assisting people who have a terminal disease but could live another 10 years."

Caples said it is her organization's position that any law that is enacted should require that two physicians determine that a patient has fewer than six months to live.

"We don't think they would be in such a hurry to die if there was a right-to-die law," she said. "Now they think must do something right now while they are in a sound mind, that if they wait too long won't be able to. They are ending their lives far sooner than they want to because they feel backed into a corner.

"The lack of legislation is actually causing premature suicides."

But at least three area politicians would oppose right-to-die legislation as proposed by the Hemlock Society.

Sen. Bill O'Donnell, R-Las Vegas, says he is philosophically opposed to assisted suicide.

"Someone who wishes to die like that is not thinking of the living," said O'Donnell. "We as human beings have a responsibility to our kin and our loved ones, if you will.

"When you're concentrating on thinking of yourself in order to die, you're thinking of just yourself and not others."

If supporters of assisted-suicide legislation are successful in getting a bill drafted and voted on in the next session, it probably will be for the first time.

The Legislature this year passed a law giving a person the right to decide whether to have life support systems used to keep them alive.

The law requires the decision to be in writing.

Assemblyman John Lee, D-Las Vegas, opposed that legislation and said he would vigorously oppose any assisted-suicide bill.

"I believe Nevada doesn't look upon that as a moral thing to do," said Lee.

Sen. Kathy Augustine, R-Las Vegas, also opposes assisted suicides.

In 1995 she sponsored Senate Bill 298, which prohibits disciplinary action against doctors for administering high dosages of certain medications to ease the pain and suffering of patients.

"I think that is the way we need to go," said Augustine. "There are medications available to allow (terminally ill patients who are suffering) to live normal lives without having to be in constant daily pain."