Celebrate Life is the magazine of the American Life League. I think this is the first time this blog has linked to anything from the publication. The magazine has just published a short article by John Mallon that has been emailed to me from three different sources – all of them apparently thinking it’s a great article.
It isn’t. It contains smears of two medical professionals who have been two of the most consistent and reliable opponents of legalized assisted suicide that NDY has ever worked with.
Mallon’s article, “Palliative Care: The new stealth Euthanasia,” (pdf) is a superficial patchwork of cherry-picked factoids and mischaracterizations – with the result being a polemic piece masquerading as research.
By pairing individuals who are committed to better care for dying and seriously ill people with advocates of assisted suicide, he works to eliminate any distinctions between these. Judging from my mailbox, he has apparently been successful with some people in that goal.
His first target in this regard is Dr. Kathleen Foley, who was director of the Soros-funded Project on Death in America. Mallon admits Foley opposes assisted suicide, but then dismisses that opposition since it’s not (according to Mallon) based in the belief that “it is inherently wrong.” As evidence, he quotes Foley’s 2005 testimony before the British House of Lords. In a nutshell, Foley recounts a list of the failures of the medical system and the growing economic pressures on medical providers who want to provide decent care. She says that after the decades it might take to fix the problems in the current medical system, it might be appropriate to examine assisted suicide at that point.
Mallon obviously doesn’t like the argument. But people who won’t care about Mallon’s beliefs listen to Foley. This wasn’t a one-shot deal for Foley, either.
Dr. Foley co-edited the 2002 book The case against assisted suicide: For the right to end-of-life care, which included a chapter written by NDY founder and president Diane Coleman. Dr. Foley has also aided coalitions working to oppose legalization of assisted suicide in several states, including Hawaii and California.
Mallon also takes aim at another medical ally in the fight against assisted suicide. That target is Dr. Ira Byock, the Director of the Palliative Care Program at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center.
In the interest of full disclosure, I first met Ira Byock in 1997 at a small group meeting of medical and disability advocates opposed to legalized assisted suicide. Since sometime around 2000 or so, we’ve corresponded several times a year. At the times we find ourselves at the same event, we have always found time to talk – and generally have a lot to talk about. I have come to respect Ira more and more over the years for his commitment to principles and his willingness to engage people who disagree with him. And he’s willing to take flak for taking stands that might not be popular with others in his profession, or people who are generally more in sync politically.
More than that, everything I know about Ira Byock supports the belief that his entire career has been devoted to better patient care – most of it at people’s bedsides. If I – or someone close to me – was seriously ill, I would love for him to be in charge of the care for me or a loved one.
BTW, this doesn’t mean that there aren’t points of disagreement between NDY and both Ira and Foley. There are, and they are both people who are open to discussion on those points.
Mallon describes Ira as “nominally opposed to assisted suicide” and puts it in the past tense. I don’t know if Mallon was being sloppy or deliberately dishonest, but Ira Byock has been consistent in his opposition to legalization of assisted suicide. In fact, he submitted written testimony in February of this year to the New Hampshire legislature when a bill was being considered, which can be read here.
Ira’s intended audience was the more liberal members of the legislature. It’s a pretty good bet that most of them don’t bother to pay much attention to submissions from representatives of Conservative pro-life groups.
So what is the “reward” for medical professionals like Ira Byock and Kathleen Foley. Well, their stances and their actions in opposing assisted suicide don’t win them any friends among “liberals” who support euthanasia and assisted suicide. And they get to enjoy attacks from the right-wing for not being opposed for the right reasons or not meeting some sort of ideological criteria.
The reality we live in is one in which fewer of our allies in the medical field are willing to be vocal. And with the animosity resistance to legalized assisted suicide can generate from some on the left, coupled with crap like this from the right, we can’t exactly expect to see any more medical people want to step out and speak in opposition, with their consciences alone motivating them to do so.
We need people like Ira Byock and Kathleen Foley. They are crucial to efforts to defeat the advocacy of assisted suicide organizations.
If you want to win, you do your best to invite allies in. You don’t chase them away.
Maybe John Mallon and the American Life League don’t care if we win or not. –Stephen Drake