I read with interest the article regarding Barbara Filion’s journey to seek physician assisted suicide in Vermont. Taking nothing away from her cancer battle, legalizing physician assisted suicide is not the answer. People are often persuaded to support laws to legalize assisted suicide because they fear dying in pain. Yet, a review of the reasons why lethal drugs are requested reveals that pain is not the main reason, and not even in the top five reasons. The primary reasons are loss of autonomy, unable to engage in enjoyable activities, loss of dignity, losing control of bodily functions, and being a burden on family, friends and caregivers. These are problems associated with disability which can be addressed by providing services for the patient.

No one who has a serious or potentially terminal illness wants to experience pain or other suffering. But pain can be dealt with by good palliative care. The bigger and often unmet need is for quality home care services to live as well as possible to the end. In-home hospice benefits are inadequate, leaving all but the wealthiest families scrambling or forcing people into facilities as their only solution. Assisted suicide advocacy groups capitalize on this failure of care, pushing a policy to legalize active medical killing of individuals at their most vulnerable point. We need to understand that the intent of bills to legalize assisted suicide is not real. Taking this terrible step is for social, not medical, reasons. We can and must do better for vulnerable people.

Melinda Simms

Belmont