Physician assisted suicide legislation filed

By Tanya Connor | The Catholic Free Press
    
    Legislation to legalize physician assisted suicide in Massachusetts has been filed again.
    The “soft” deadline for filing bills is Jan. 18; some bills could come in later, said James F. Driscoll, executive director of the Massachusetts Catholic Conference, the bishops’ lobbying arm. Bills are not yet numbered (they just have docket numbers), and members of committees to hear bills haven’t been named, he said.
    One bill to legalize physician assisted suicide is Senate Docket No. 395: “An Act relative to end of life options,” presented by Sen. William N. Brownsberger, a Democrat from the Second Suffolk and Middlesex districts. Several legislators are listed as petitioning for this bill, including Sen. Harriette L. Chandler (D-First Worcester), Sen. Joanne M. Comerford (D-Hampshire, Franklin and Worcester) and Rep. Daniel M. Donahue, (D-16th Worcester).
    Another petitioner for the Senate bill is Rep. Louis L. Kafka (D-8th Norfolk), who filed a House bill – An Act relative to end of life options, Docket No. 171 – to legalize physician assisted suicide.
    At first glance the senate bill looks the same as legislation filed in the past, Mr. Driscoll said. He said he hasn’t yet studied it thoroughly.
    Roger Dubuque, a member of Christ the King Parish in Worcester and co-chair of Witness for Life, which fights the legalization of physician assisted suicide, also said he thought the senate bill was essentially the same as in the past.
    He said he senses that it could pass this time because “we’re starting to lose more and more pro-life representatives.”
    “We’re trying to combine forces with other allied groups, such as Massachusetts Citizens For Life … Knights of Columbus … any pro-life organization that we can identify, to let them know how critical this is going to be, and to work with them,” he said.
    He said Witness for Life wants to arrange for the showing of the film Fatal FLAWS – “the best educational tool we’ve come up with” for this issue – in more parishes in the Worcester diocese.
    They’ve shown it in some parishes, and led a discussion afterwards, telling attendees how their legislators have responded to this issue and giving talking points for contacting them, he said.
    He said upcoming showings are: 6:30-8:30 p.m., Feb. 13, at St. Brigid Parish, Millbury; after the 11:30 a.m. Mass, March 3, at St. Andrew the Apostle Mission, Worcester, and after the 10 a.m. Mass, March 10, St. Peter Parish, Worcester.
    Kevin Dunn, who interviewed proponents and opponents of physician assisted suicide in different countries for Fatal FLAWS, is to speak and show clips of it and other films at the Worcester Diocesan Catholic Men’s Conference, April 6, at Assumption College, said Msgr. Thomas J. Sullivan, a key conference organizer. DunnMedia produced Fatal FLAWS in association with The Euthanasia Prevention Coalition.
    “I thought, having seen Fatal FLAWS, it would be terrific to have him as a speaker at the conference,” said Msgr. Sullivan, pastor of Christ the King and a member of Witness for Life and the Massachusetts Catholic Conference.     “This is a live issue in Massachusetts.”
    “No one’s aware of this,” Mr. Dubuque said. “This is a very significant, important issue for us to stop from becoming law. We’ve been at this since 2012.” He and other local Catholics formed Witness for Life in January 2013, after Massachusetts voters narrowly defeated the referendum to legalize physician assisted suicide in the Commonwealth.
     The Catholic Church has been in the forefront in fighting euthanasia and physician assisted suicide, Bishop McManus said at a viewing of Fatal FLAWS last May.