A measure permitting assisted-suicide is advancing in the Delaware legislature.
Last week, Delaware’s House Human Health and Development Committee passed H.B. 140 — a bad bill that would let physicians and advance practice registered nurses (APRNs) in Delaware prescribe lethal drugs to terminally ill patients.
The measure does not require patients to undergo any type of mental health evaluation before receiving the lethal drugs. That is significant, because patients who seek assisted suicide typically are dealing with depression or mental anguish resulting from their illness.
For example, since 1998, more than 90% of the terminally ill people who inquired about assisted suicide in Oregon said they were concerned about losing their autonomy, and nearly 75% expressed worries about losing their dignity. Most did not express concerns about controlling their pain.
Many of these patients are lonely and feel like they are losing control over their lives because of their illness. That means they need counseling and support — not a prescription for poisonous drugs.
Despite this fact, the vast majority of Oregon’s assisted-suicide patients never receive a mental health evaluation. The same is true in other states where assisted-suicide is legal.
Assisted suicide also makes it harder for patients to receive actual healthcare.
In 2019 a Canadian man with ALS made headlines when he chose to take his own life under the country’s assisted suicide and euthanasia laws after the government chose not to provide him with 24-hour home healthcare services due to cost.
In parts of the U.S. where physician-assisted suicide is permitted, insurance companies have refused to pay for patients’ medical care, but have offered to cover assisted-suicide drugs.
Being pro-life means believing human life is sacred from conception until natural death.
That’s part of the reason why in 2019 Family Council helped defeat a very bad legislative proposal to let doctors prescribe lethal drugs to patients in Arkansas. It was a deeply flawed piece of legislation that fundamentally disrespected the sanctity of innocent human life.
Just like abortion, euthanasia and assisted-suicide are murder, and they violate the sanctity of human life. Pro-lifers must stand strong against them.
