Posted on 11/07/2008 4:31:38 PM PST by wagglebee
Olympia, WA (LifeNews.com) -- Voters in Washington may have made their state the second in the nation to legalize assisted suicide but that doesn't mean patients who want their physician's help in killing themselves will be able to get it. Doctors and hospitals are already speaking up saying they will refuse assisted suicide requests.
Though voters approved I-1000 on Tuesday, the Washington State Medical Association says doctors have no obligation to participate in killing patients.
Meanwhile, Providence Health and Services, the largest medical system in eastern Washington, states it will prohibit doctors from killing patients at its medical centers, nursing homes and other facilities.
"Providence will not support physician-assisted suicide within its ministries," it said in a statement published in the Spokesman Review newspaper.
"This position is grounded in our basic values of respect for the sacredness of life, compassionate care of dying and vulnerable persons, and respect for the integrity of medical, nursing and allied health professions. We do not believe health care providers should ever be put in a position of aiding a patient in taking his or her own life," the statement continued.
Spokeswoman Karina Jennings said Providence has no plans to pursue legal action to overturn the assisted suicide law and will take advantage of the exemption in the law.
Hospice of Spokane will also not participate in the law and says its mission is to provide care and support for patients, not kill them.
Wesley J. Smith, a top bioethics watchdog based in California, applauded the decisions not to engage in assisted suicides.
"One of the most important services that medical professionals can offer to the people they serve, I think, is to declare their offices and facilities to be 'assisted suicide free zones,'" he said. "Indeed, I hope that medical organizations create plaques and certificates to those doctors and health care facilities can mount on office walls."
He called opting out of doing assisted suicides "important" and said, "Medical professionals must resist turning killing (which means to end life) into a medical treatment. None can be forced (yet) to participate."
"Such modeling may save lives of people who, thanks to the continued proliferation of non-participating medical professionals, will never ask for assisted suicide. And it will give courage to others to resist the culture of death that this way comes," he added.
There is time for physicians and hospitals to put their internal policies in place as the assisted suicide law won't go into effect until July 2009 after state officials write the ballot measure into law.
Washington voters approved I-1000 after proponents spent $7 million -- mostly coming from out of state -- against the paltry funds opponents had to educate voters against it.
Hopefully more doctors and hospitals will stand up to this travesty.
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Let the lawsuits begin.When the dust has settled doctors,nurses and hospitals will be required to participate.This will occur either because some judge (state or Federal) will order it or the state legislature will pass a law requiring participation.
Oh, you think Caesar is stronger than God? It is the duty of any Christian to obey the law except when God commands something the State forbids or the State commands something God forbids. What can they do? Throw a doctor or nurse in jail? Pull their licenses?
Good on’em but how long do you think it will be before the heirs of these folks demand the state force hospitals and Doctors to kill their loved ones?
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The aclu will have lawyers on staff at these recalcitrant institution to make sure somebody dies.
You can’t force them to. Eventually we could see a lack of qualified doctors in this state.
Unfortunately,yes.
Pull their licenses?
Unfortunately,yes.
Just consider what recently happened in Britain.Adoption laws in Britain were recently changed to *require* all adoption agencies to place kids for adoption with homosexual "couples".The Catholic Church stated that for them to do so would violate one of their basic beliefs.The British government said "tough luck...no exceptions".
The Church wound up shutting down every one of its adoption centers in the country.That's all they could do.
The doctor can say they lack the experience or knowledge of the procedure. What can you force at that point? Like asking a neurosurgeon to do a knee replacement.
Or how long until your HMO gives you a break on your premiums if you agree to pre-arranged assisted suicide?
You ask? This is, after all, The Democratic Peoples Republic of Washington - Governed by Minister Gregoire.
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Obama Says A Baby Is A Punishment
Obama: If they make a mistake, I dont want them punished with a baby.
It could be done, but I can imagine a number of doctors and nurses then going to friendlier states, like Oklahoma, and then Washington will be bemoaning the lack of medical personnel.
Your child must perform 100 hours of community service.
No.
Your grandpa must perform 50 hours of community service or loose social insecurity.
Screw you. We'll take care of grandpa.
You must give three months to the national security force.
No.
You must give up your guns.
No.We'll raise your taxes if you earn more than $250,000 a year.
Fine. Then I'll earn $249,999 a year.
No homeschooling your children.
Find them.
Your business must pay these taxes because you're a polluter.
No.
We're going to take your house!
OK. I'll stay with friends or family.
The leftists are making America more like Nazi Germany every day.
They only have a hold on us as long as we believe we have something to loose. We all need to realize that we lost everything we hold most dear on November 4th. Our freedom means nothing. Our children have no future. It’s done.
So what’s jail in the face of this? Living in a 8x12 prison cell is no worse than living under socialism.
Maybe, just maybe, if enough of us resist we can overload the system just by saying “No.”
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