Opposition to assisted suicide

BY BILL DOYLE
CFP CORRESPONDENT
 
The Massachusetts Catholic Conference has distributed fliers to be inserted in parish bulletins throughout the four Roman Catholic Dioceses this weekend, imploring parishioners to contact their legislators to voice their opposition to physician assisted suicide.
The state legislature is considering two bills that if passed would legalize physician assisted suicide: House Bill 2381, sponsored last year by Rep. James O’Day, D-West Boylston, and Rep. John Mahoney, D-Worcester, and Senate Bill 1384, sponsored by Sen. Jo Comerford, D-Northampton. They are identical in text and titled, “An act relative to end of life options.”
James Driscoll, executive director of the Massachusetts Catholic Conference, which is the public policy office of the Roman Catholic Church in the commonwealth, wrote the bulletin insert about what he calls “this very troubling piece of legislation.”
In 2012, a ballot question attempting to legalize physician assisted suicide was narrowly defeated, 51-49 percent, in the general election after a concerted opposition campaign by religious leaders, anti-abortion activists, a major physician group and other coalitions.
“Here in the diocese there was a massive educational effort that went on,” said Allison LeDoux, director of the Respect Life Office of the Diocese of Worcester. “Our priests and deacons did a fabulous job of preaching about the issue from the pulpit and getting the materials out to people. I am convinced that that made a world of difference.”
Since then the legislature has considered similar bills in each of the past several sessions.
“It never passed,” Mr. Driscoll said, “and the goal here is to make legislators aware that there are a lot of people out there that are against physician assisted suicide and this is our grassroots effort to get that message to the legislators.”
The House and Senate bills have been sent along to the Joint Committee on Health Care Financing, which has until June 1 to report it out of committee favorably to continue the legislative process. If they report it out unfavorably or send it to study, that would kill the bill for the remainder of the session. The committee could also ask for more time to consider the bill before the two-year legislative session ends on July 31. If the bills don’t pass by July 31, they will have to be reintroduced the following session.
Mr. Driscoll said he is confident the will of the people against this legislation will be relayed to the legislators so the bills won’t be passed.
The bulletin insert pointed out that in 2017, the Roman Catholic Bishops of Boston, Fall River, Worcester and Springfield called physician assisted suicide, “an affront to life and a dangerous precedent for determining end of life issues. Physicians are trained to care for the ill, not to hasten death.”
The bills would allow a physician to grant a request from a person diagnosed with less than six months to live to immediately receive a lethal drug mixture, but the Massachusetts Catholic Conference bulletin insert pointed out that many patients have outlived such diagnoses.
The flier also stated that a person who is physically disabled, depressed, or fearful of being a burden, may be unduly influenced by others to take the drug mixture, especially if there is a financial benefit as an incentive.
The bulletin insert stressed that the primary focus of elected officials should be dedicated to legislation providing quality health care, mental health care and palliative care to the sick and dying, particularly in the underserved, poor and minority communities that suffer the most at the time of need.
Parishioners are asked to call or email their legislators to urge them to vote against these bills. Names and contact information for legislators and members of the Joint Committee on Health Care Financing can be found at www.macatholic.org. Those without internet access can call the Massachusetts Catholic Conference at 617-746-5630 for legislative contact information.
The bulletin insert is printed in English, Spanish, Portuguese, Haitian, Creole and Vietnamese at www.macatholic.org.
“The bills use the euphemism of medical aid in dying, but in reality, it is physician assisted suicide,” Mrs. LeDoux said. 
The bills conflict with everything Catholics believe, she said.
“God is the author of life and death,” she said. “It’s just very dangerous and it undermines the medical profession, who we are expected to be able to trust. This kind of legislation really undermines the physician’s role as healer because even when something is incurable, the physician still has the duty to care for the person and this kind of practice of physician assisted suicide really minimizes the value of human life, trying to take something into our own hands that is not ours to take.”
Msgr. Thomas J. Sullivan, pastor of Christ the King Parish, Worcester, is a member of the board of directors at the Massachusetts Catholic Conference. He has administered the last rites to many people, and he is passionate about voting against physician assisted suicide.
“I think it is so important because I believe God gives the gift of life and God takes it,” he said. “Not for us to decide. It’s another chip at the overall pro-life stance the church takes. I don’t believe in any suicide. We also know that in states that have PAS the general suicide rate goes up, too. What people need is care, loving support of family and friends, good medical care dealing with their pain issues.”
A 2020 poll by The Boston Globe and Suffolk University found that 70 percent of state residents supported physician assisted suicide and 74 percent said they would want doctors to stop treating them if they had an incurable disease and were in “terrible pain.”
Mrs. LeDoux said it’s understandable that people worry about uncontrollable pain, but modern methods of pain management can be very effective.
“If legislators would redirect their attention to promoting quality health care and especially quality palliative care,” she said, “and making that available, people wouldn’t be resorting to this conclusion of just ending it all. People haven’t studied the issue to see how destructive it is.”
Ten states, including nearby Vermont and Maine, and Washington, D.C., have legalized “physician assisted death” through legislative action.
Msgr. Sullivan said physician assisted suicide in Europe has led to euthanasia with others deciding to take someone’s life without their permission.
The message of “say no to physician assisted suicide” should also be passed along via Flocknote, email and word of mouth, Mrs. LeDoux said.
“It’s something people should be talking about among family, friends, neighbors and co-workers,” she said.