Posted on 01/10/2009 10:19:38 AM PST by wagglebee
Advocates of the new Washington law that will soon allow terminally ill patients to end their lives through lethal drugs expect Oregon's near-identical law to account for a record 55 deaths there in 2008.
A "very small number of people" probably will seek to use the law in its first year in Washington, said Robb Miller, executive director of Compassion & Choices of Washington, the state affiliate of the Portland-based group that advocates for what it calls "aid in dying."
Washington's Death With Dignity Act will take effect March 5. Washington voters approved Initiative 1000 to legalize the law in November. Washington would be the second state after Oregon to allow what opponents call "physician-assisted suicide."
Under the law, doctors could prescribe -- but not administer -- a lethal dose of medication if requested by Washington residents given six months or less to live.
The state Department of Health will hold a public hearing Feb. 10 on draft rules to implement the law, including reporting requirements for health care providers and the qualifications of witnesses for patients in long-term care facilities who make written requests for aid in dying.
Deaths attributed to Oregon's law in its first decade totaled 341, an average of 34 a year, with a high of 49 in 2007. Compassion & Choices volunteers have served as witnesses to deaths in about 85 percent of the cases.
The organization sees itself as the "steward of the law" and the "advocate and counselor" for those wishing to use the law in Washington, said Miller, one of several Compassion & Choices leaders who spoke Friday to reporters in Seattle.
About 40 of the deaths in Oregon involved patients whose doctors worked at hospitals, usually Catholic-run, that opposed aid in dying on moral grounds, said George Eighmey, executive director of Compassion & Choices of Oregon. (For the same reason, some pharmacists will not fill lethal prescriptions.)
In those cases, the doctors had to go away from the hospital during their off-duty hours to prescribe the lethal drugs, Eighmey said.
To avoid those hurdles, Miller and Eighmey said patients considering aid in dying at some point should not wait to find out their doctors' positions.
"The time for conversation is now," Miller said.
These should provide some insight:
The early Christians were consistent about "thou shall not kill." Modern ones are far more selective.
Isn’t it great that assisted suicide is legal in LIBERAL states?
NO.
That way LIBERALS take advantage of it.
Yes.
"Kill" means murder.
A Just War means defense, the prohibition of which you will not find in the Bible.
A simple reading of you tagline illustrates the YOUR understanding of Christianity is beyond warped.
And she was mad with lust after lying with them whose flesh is as the flesh of asses: and whose issue as the issue of horses. (Ezechiel 23:30)
Indeed.
What is suicide? It is the ultimate rejection of the divine gift of Life. To me, this is a rebuke of God second only to the rejection of the Holy Spirit, and is bound up in the Mystery of Iniquity. And it is culpable in a major way.
As such, it is utterly, categorically unacceptable to Christians, or to anyone who values Life.
Ultimately it is God alone Who judges such matters....
And yet the Church has taken great pains to elaborate the doctrine of the just war. Things are not as simple as they evidently appear to Petronius.
"Kill" means whatever believers say it does.
I was the one who said it evolves and adapts to its environment. When you don’t have the power to kill, you preach pacifism; when you do, it’s time for “Just War Theory.”
All the sickness and disease you see or have or hear about it a result of the FIRST sin, of Adam and Eve in the garden. No second guessing there.
"Kill" in the context of the Bible means just what the Bible says it means, you can do some study.
FYI, if Christianity were a cult it would have died out long ago. no CULT would last this long. considering the alternatives out there...I would rather run the risk, as you see it, on this spiritual belief system, than on any other. (I don’t see it as a risk. I know my beliefs are real and tangible. I have seen God working in my life and those around me, in wonderous ways. buddha, any ‘person’ believing themselves to be a ‘god’, mohammed, the mormon dude - none of them could possible do what God has done.) out of curiosity, what is your religious persuasion?
That the Bible doesn’t speak directly on a specific issue isn’t an argument either for or against it. It is the entirity of its teachings and Christian tradition/understanding of them, that speaks to issues like suicide, abortion, homosexuality, etc. There is clearly a prohibition against suidice in both Judahism and Christianity that cannot be denied.
If a person wants to kill themselves for any reason, they will find a way a do it. The issue I have with this is when it becomes legal or even required for others to aid and abet them.
In the animal world, the weak are generally killed off for various reasons by other animals and their own kind. What elevates human beings from animals is the ability to rise above our animal nature and show actual mercy and compassion to each other. To assist in killing the weak amoung us is not compassion, especially when there are other resources at our disposal to address their suffering.
I find it interesting that this thread has moved from an suicide issue to a war related issue! I don't want to assume, but, considering your stances, where do you stand on abortion?
My word, but you are a deeply cynical man, Petronius. And not one of very deep understanding, I imagine.
Good luck to you.
And the culture death marches on with grotesqe Orwellian slogans.
The rural counties are much more conservative. The cities like Portland, Eugene and Ashland are filthy with extreme leftists.
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