Physician-Assisted Suicide Claiming Nearly One Life Per Day in California

Euthanasia and Assisted Suicide,

Last week we wrote about public opinion polling on assisted suicide and euthanasia. In short, while Americans generally say they think physician-assisted suicide ought to be legal, weekly churchgoers strongly oppose assisted suicide, and support for suicide and euthanasia rises or falls depending on how pollsters describe the issue.

This week we want to highlight a report from California showing hundreds of people have ended their lives under the state’s physician-assisted suicide program since 2016.

Over the summer the California Department of Public Health published a set of findings that noted 374 people died by ingesting a lethal prescription from a doctor in 2017.

Adding to that the 111 people who died by assisted suicide in the last part of 2016, physician-assisted suicide claimed 485 lives in its first 18 months of operation in California. That comes out to nearly one death every day for a year and a half!

California’s 2017 report once again shows most people who opt for physician-assisted suicide are well-educated. This corroborates surveys conducted in Oregon and Canada as well as information published in California last year showing most people who inquire about assisted suicide are actually educated, affluent individuals who are much more concerned about losing their autonomy than they are about pain and suffering. Instead of being referred to a mental health specialist or offered other assistance, most of these patients simply receive a lethal prescription for drugs they can use to commit suicide.

Being pro-life means believing human life is sacred from conception until natural death, and it means opposing the taking of human life without just cause.

While the term “pro-life” is often applied to work related to abortion, opposition to suicide and euthanasia falls under the purview of pro-life work as well.

Just like abortion, assisted-suicide fails to acknowledge that God is the creator and giver of life. Human life is sacred, and no sickness gives us an excuse to end someone’s life prematurely — including our own.

Simply put: Physician-assisted suicide violates human dignity and the sanctity of human life.

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When it Comes to Suicide and Euthanasia, Words Matter

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A Gallup poll released earlier this year shows most Americans support euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide.

However, support rises or falls depending on how the question is worded.

For example, 72% of those polled support letting a doctor “end the patient’s life by some painless means if the patient and his or her family request it.” However, only 65% say a doctor should be able to “assist the patient to commit suicide if the patient requests it.”

In other words, the answer hinges at least in part on whether or not the question includes the word “suicide.”

The poll shows support for assisted suicide is fairly strong among people of all age groups and political parties. The only group that strongly opposes physician-assisted suicide is weekly churchgoers.

Of weekly churchgoers, 58% oppose physician-assisted suicide.

Moreover, the poll indicates that many people who believe physician-assisted ought to be legal still question whether assisted suicide is right or wrong.

Despite the fact 65% believe doctors ought to be able to assist in a patient’s suicide, only 54% of those polled said assisted-suicide is morally acceptable. Gallup writes, “These findings are in line with a general tendency for Americans often to be hesitant to ban behaviors even if they think they are morally wrong.”

Here are two important points to take away from all of this:

First, when it comes to suicide and euthanasia, what we call it and how we talk about it really do matter.

Groups that support suicide and euthanasia like to use terms like “medical aid in dying” to describe what they’re promoting. In reality, physician-assisted suicide isn’t about medical aid. Many doctors and hospitals now specialize in pain management, and patients are well-informed about their medical options during a terminal illness. Surveys conducted in Oregon and Canada as well as information published in California shows most people who inquire about assisted suicide are actually much more concerned about losing their autonomy. Instead of being referred to a mental health specialist or offered other assistance, most of these patients simply receive a lethal prescription for drugs they can use to commit suicide.

Americans need to know what’s driving the demand for physician-assisted suicide and what really happens when a person seeks assisted suicide in states like Colorado or Oregon.

Second, Christians need to be able to explain thoughtfully and clearly what is wrong with assisted suicide.

Just like abortion, suicide fails to acknowledge that God is the creator and giver of life. Human life is sacred, and no sickness gives us an excuse to end someone’s life prematurely. Christians are called time and again to help those who suffer. Simply put, we do not eliminate suffering by eliminating people who are suffering.

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Does Marriage Deter People From Physician-Assisted Suicide?

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In 2016 Colorado voted to legalize physician-assisted suicide. The law lets doctors prescribe lethal drugs to terminally ill people who want to end their lives.

We have written in the past about studies and reports on assisted suicide in Canada and California. In most cases, people who opt to take their own lives are educated, affluent individuals accustomed to making their own decisions. But another trend is emerging: In some states, most of the people who seek physician-assisted suicide are not married.

According to reports out of Colorado, of the 56 people prescribed suicide drugs last year, 31 — about 55% — were not married.

The Oregon Health Authority reports that about 53% of the people who have taken their own lives since the state legalized physician-assisted suicide in 1998 were not married.

And Washington State reports that in 2016, 57% of those who sought assisted suicide also were not married at the time of death.

This raises a serious question: What roles do marriage or loneliness play in decisions about physician-assisted suicide?

A 2004 study published in the British Medical Journal found,

In general, widowed, single, and divorced elderly people have a higher risk of suicide, with marriage seeming to be protective. Bereavement is also associated with attempted and completed suicide in elderly people—men seem especially vulnerable after the loss of a spouse, with a relative risk three times that of married men.

Although the study noted some exceptions, married adults appeared less likely to commit suicide, overall.

So what does this mean for physician-assisted suicide?

Proponents generally claim physician-assisted suicide helps terminally ill people end their excruciating pain and suffering.

In practice, however, pain and suffering don’t seem to be the reasons people opt for assisted suicide.

A study conducted in Oregon in 1999 concluded, “the decision to request and use a prescription for lethal medications . . . was associated with views on autonomy and control, not with fear of intractable pain or concern about financial loss.” I would add that based on other reports and studies, loneliness also seems to be a factor.

Right now bills legalizing assisted suicide are before lawmakers in Connecticut and Hawaii. If more states legalize physician-assisted suicide, that debate could eventually come to Arkansas as well.

People need to understand what actually drives the demand for assisted suicide. Christians also need to understand why there is nothing compassionate about helping a person take his or her own life.

As we have said time and time again, being pro-life is about much more than opposing abortion. We do not eliminate suffering by eliminating people who are suffering. We must respect the sanctity of human life at the end of life as well as at the beginning.

Photo Credit: By Jeff Belmonte from Cuiabá, Brazil (Flickr) [CC BY 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons.

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