The hardest jobs are the ones you pick for yourself.
John Radcliffe learned in June of 2014 he had Stage 4 cancer that was likely to one day kill him.
Yes it was serious, but to Radcliffe it was also something of a mission call. A union organizer and longtime executive with unions for both public school teachers and university professors, Radcliffe has also been one of Hawaii’s most effective lobbyists.
Radcliffe is now one of many asking that the state allow doctors to prescribe drugs to assist a terminally ill patient to end his or her life. It is a tough and emotional issue, and one that Radcliffe understands better than many.
“I have outlived my prognosis by 20 months so far, and just finished my 58th three-day chemo session last week. As you know, that is a very high number. I am hoping to go where it takes me, but my prognosis remains six months or less. There are good days and bad but mostly good,” Radcliffe said in testimony this year for House Bill Opens in a new tab2739 Opens in a new tab.
With much public support plus strong support by both Gov. David Ige and his Democratic primary opponent, U.S. Rep. Colleen Hanabusa, the bill now goes to the Senate, which last year passed similar legislation.
Politicians want to talk about hope, they want to promise a better tomorrow, so if the issue is death with dignity, it is just not going to be easily discussed. All the more credit that advocates such as Radcliffe have been able to foster the discussion and make sure the pols don’t blink.
In dozens of community meetings, and more public appearances on radio discussion shows, television programs and in testimony, Radcliffe has been, as he puts it, “the poster boy” for death with dignity.
Eventually in all those discussions, the issue is finally broached: talking about your own death.
“I feel good, very tired, exhausted most of the time, in bed most of the time but I’m good,” Radcliffe said in an interview last week.
“People will always say ‘How are you feeling?’ but they don’t ask ‘Are you scared?’” Radcliffe said, answering the question: “No.”
“Talking about my own death is not difficult, not at all. I think it is just another thing. I tell people ‘Come on don’t worry about it, you are going to die anyway,’” he said.
Getting Hawaii to this point is reminiscent of Hawaii’s old progressive politics. Young voters today might not remember that Hawaii was the first state to make abortion legal, the first state to ratify the Equal Rights Amendment and the first to allow seriously ill patients to use medical marijuana.
Death with dignity is, as Radcliffe said, something that has long been favored — but as the state ages, it is one that has seen a new “strengthening of intensity.”
It will never be a pivotal campaign plank, but it goes a long way to understanding a candidate’s depth of compassion and understanding.
Richard Borreca writes on politics on Sundays. Reach him at 808onpolitics@gmail.com.
