Diane Coleman in New Jersey Star-Ledger: The dangerous ‘help’ of assisted suicide

NDY president and CEO Diane Coleman wrote an op-ed that was published in yesterday’s New Jersey Star-Ledger.  Here’s the first half of the op-ed, titled “The dangerous ‘help’ of assisted suicide“:

Proponents of legal assisted suicide for the terminally ill frequently claim that the opposing views of disability organizations aren’t relevant.

Nevertheless, although people with disabilities aren’t usually terminally ill, the terminally ill are almost always disabled. This is one of many reasons our perspective may offer some insights on this complex issue.

People with disabilities and chronic conditions live on the front lines of the health care system that serves (and, sadly, often underserves) dying people. One might view us as the “canaries in the coal mine,” alerting others to dangers we see first.

Assisted suicide advocates paint themselves as “compassionate progressives,” fighting for freedom against the religious right. That simplistic script ignores inconvenient truths that are all too familiar to disability advocates, such as:

• Predictions that someone will die in six months are often wrong;

• People who want to die usually have treatable depression and/or need better palliative care;

• Pressures to cut health care costs in the current political climate make this the wrong time to add doctor-prescribed suicide to the “treatment” options;

• Abuse of elders and people with disabilities is a growing but often undetected problem, making coercion virtually impossible to identify or prevent.

It’s not the proponents’ good intentions but the language of assisted suicide laws that legislators need to consider.

Please read the rest of the op-ed here – and leave a comment (you can register with you Facebook account).