Medically assisted death: Several letters
COURTESY PIXABAY
Having option would comfort
Why can’t we have assisted suicide in Hawaii (“Assisted suicide does not fit Hawaii,” Star-Advertiser, Island Voices, Jan. 22)?
>> Medically assisted death: A compassionate option
>> Medically assisted death: Wariness is warranted
>> Medically assisted death: Don’t alter definition of medical care
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Just because these three doctors are who they are doesn’t mean they know everything about assisted suicide. There may be a lot of people who support it and many who don’t. So put it on the next ballot.
I don’t see anything wrong with having the option of assisted suicide. If I ever became terminally ill, I would like to have this option. I wouldn’t want to go somewhere else just to die.
Come on and wake up. Let’s put Hawaii in the forefront regarding this issue.
Cindy Au
Kapahulu
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Duty to relieve pain, suffering
Five bills on assisted-death are before this Legislature. Only Senate Bill 1129 has received a hearing so far and is advancing:
>> SB 1129: Would establish a death with dignity act in which a terminally ill adult resident may obtain a prescription for medication to end life. Licensed physicians would be allowed to prescribe a lethal dose of medication to terminally ill, competent adults diagnosed with six or fewer months to live.
>> HB 201: Would let a terminally ill adult with the capacity to make an informed healthcare decision to request a prescription for aid in dying medication from physician.
>> HB 550: Would authorize terminally ill adults seeking to end their life to request lethal doses of medication from medical and osteopathic physicians.
>> HB 150: Establishes a persons ability to choose the End of Life Option when afflicted with a terminal illness.
>> SB 357: Authorizes a terminally ill adult with the capacity to make an informed health care decision to request a prescription for aid in dying medication from their physician.
Simply Google the original Hippocratic Oath and nowhere does it say, “Primun non nocere” or “do no harm.”
Today physicians, depending upon the medical school they attend, take various oaths that have been rewritten many times, none of which explicitly say do no harm.
As a veterinarian and family physician with nearly 50 years of experience, I have attended the deaths of many. From the pain-engulfed terminal elderly patient whose relative flies in, demanding life be prolonged at all costs, to the family that brings in its beloved animal, knowing that because the end is near, the most humane and precious thing they can give to their family member is death with dignity and relief of suffering.
I have seen and shared more tears and genuine concern for life from my veterinary practice than in my family practice. Our duty to all patients is to relieve pain and suffering.
Gary R. Johnson, D.V.M., D.O.
Kaneohe
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Duty to save, preserve lives
As a physician, I am in full agreement with Dr. Andrew Kayes regarding the proposed House Bill 201 (“Doctors shouldn’t violate sacred oath,” Star-Advertiser, Letters, Feb. 12). Medicine is a chosen profession that comes with certain duties and responsibilities to preserve and save human lives.
People who choose to become doctors do so knowing that their job is to heal, not take or destroy lives. In medical school, one of my professors taught us that as doctors we should never use the word “never” in medicine.
However, in the case of HB 201, I can use “never” without any hesitation. This bill violates the U.S. Constitution as well as the Hippocratic oath, which, sadly, a number of medical schools have abandoned as part of graduation ceremonies.
Legislators are being asked to pass a bill that allows someone else — doctors — to execute another human. I hope our legislators recognize that.
Gabriel W.C. Ma, M.D.
Downtown Honolulu
