Vermont: VPR Debate on Proposed “Death With Dignity” Legislation

Yesterday – March 8, 2011 – Vermont Public Radio aired a debate of the current bill that would legalized physician-prescribed suicide.  The entire program is about 30 minutes long.  You can listen directly in MP3 format here.  You can also download the program in MP3 format off of this page (I couldn’t figure out how to provide a direct link to the download).

Here’s a brief excerpt printed on the main audio page:

Supporters call it “Death With Dignity” and opponents call it “Physician-Assisted Suicide.” For both sides, the debate over whether physicians should be able to help people die is emotional and contentious. And new legislation introduced last month in the Vermont House is bringing the issue back to the forefront. Already dvocacy organizations on both sides are coming out in force. Dr. Diana Barnard is a physician who for the past year and a half been has been practicing strictly home-based palliative care. She is also on the board of Patient Choices Vermont, which supports the legislation. And Ed Paquin is the President of the Vermont Coalition for Disability Rights, which is opposed to the bill. They have opposing views on how issues including personal choice, ethics, and a physician’s role relate to the question of whether doctors should be legally allowed to help patients die. 

There is also a longer print story of the debate that can be accessed here:

(Host) Vermont is once again facing a debate over whether terminally ill patients should have the right to end their own lives with help from a doctor.

VPR’s Samantha Fields has more:

(Fields) A bill was introduced in the House last month. Supporters call it “Death with Dignity” or “Right to Die” legislation… opponents call it “physician-assisted suicide.”

Diana Barnard is a physician who focuses on end-of-life palliative care, and who supports the bill. She says that it really comes down to patient choice and control.

(Barnard) “The important thing to stay focused on is the right of an individual to have decision making ability at a point in their lives when death is certain. Death is coming”
 
(Fields) But the Vermont Coalition for Disability Rights is opposed to the legislation. The group’s president is Ed Paquin . He says the bill would be bad public policy, and would send the wrong signal.

(Paquin) “The message to wider society that perhaps having someone toilet you, having your mobility impaired is a life without dignity, and it’s time to get out when that happens, it’s broader than the individual suffering.” 
 
(Fields) A bill similar to the one currently in the House was defeated in 2007. But advocates are more optimistic about its chances this year. Both House Speaker Shap Smith and Governor Peter Shumlin support the legislation.

Windsor Democrat Donna Sweaney  is one of the lead sponsors of the House bill.

(Donna Sweaney) “I think we have enough votes in the house to pass the bill. As I asked people to sign on with me, they would agree that this was something they supported”.
 
(Fields) The legislation is currently in the Human Services Committee.

House Speaker Shap Smith has said he will not bring the bill to the floor for a vote unless he’s sure it will pass. Sweaney says she believes that is likely to happen this session.  

I’m pleased to report that  Ed Paquin is just one of many Vermont disability rights activists actively engaged in the coalition to oppose the latest incarnation of this legislation.  –Stephen Drake