We stand at a cultural crossroads, the intersection of the Culture of Life and the Culture of Death. At this critical juncture, the choices we make matter, now and forever. Therefore, the members of Life is Worth Living, a lay apostolate, have chosen to promote the Culture of Life.
Our mission is to strive to affirm -- in thought, word, and deed -- the infinite preciousness of human life; to encourage service to others rather than radical self-interest; and to promote a climate of public opinion that recognizes the right of all human beings to life, respect, compassionate care, appropriate medical treatment, and equality under the law.
The Death Marketers' Spin
posted by Julie Grimstad
Thursday, May 22, 2008
A euphemism is language that softens or masks an unpleasant truth. In City of God, St. Augustine wrote, “God’s command, ‘Thou shalt not kill,’ is to be taken as forbidding self-destruction — anyone who kills a human being, himself or another, is guilty of murder.” That is a plain, hard truth. Promoters of euthanasia and assisted suicide call killing a human being who is sick or disabled “death with dignity.” That is a euphemism.
Oregon’s Death With Dignity Act, the only law of its kind in the nation, permits a physician to prescribe a fatal drug dose upon the request of a person who is expected to die within six months. Willfully taking a mouthful of pills in order to end one’s life is suicide, but “right to die” activists dislike such honest and direct language. Their polling data revealed that when a softer term such as “physician-aid-in-dying” was used instead of “physician-assisted suicide” to describe exactly the same proposal, the proposal garnered significantly more support. So, they demanded a change in language, believing that not calling suicide what it is would help legalize physician-assisted suicide (PAS) in other states.
In 2006, each and every assisted-suicide measure failed even though PAS activists thought they were going to taste victory in many states. They blamed their failures on the media for using the word “suicide” to describe these measures. But the death marketers never give up, they just craft a new advertising campaign. Already in 2007, several states have PAS proposals before their legislatures—Vermont, for instance. Dr. David Babbott, who supports that state’s “Death With Dignity” bill, declared, “We believe that ‘S’ word is an inflammatory word and we don’t use it.” (Darren Perron, Channel 3 News, Montpelier, VT, 1/12/07)
Compassion & Choices—a group formed by the merger of End of Life Choices (formerly the Hemlock Society) and Compassion In Dying—has helped facilitate the deaths of about three-quarters of the Oregonians who have requested PAS. George Eighmey, director of Compassion & Choices of Oregon, claims they often hear from people who want to avail themselves of the law, but who find the term “physician-assisted suicide” offensive. (The Oregonian, 11/11/06) Obviously, the social stigma and religious prohibitions attached to the act of killing oneself make the word “suicide” a powerful deterrent. And, just as obviously, Eighmey and his colleagues don’t want anyone to be deterred from committing suicide under the law. Therefore, last year, his group lobbied Oregon’s Department of Human Services (DHS) to adopt “value-neutral language.” Not wanting a court battle, the agency capitulated. DHS now blandly refers to patients who ask physicians to help them commit suicide as "persons who use the Oregon Death With Dignity Act."
Following suit, the American Public Health Association (APHA), which represents more than 50,000 members, has rejected the term “assisted suicide” in favor of “aid-in-dying” or “patient-directed dying.” APHA’s Governing Council adopted an interim resolution in November that advises reporters, educators, public policy makers and medical personnel to use these “value-neutral terms.” Compassion & Choices is banking on many of us being gullible enough to believe that suicide isn’t really suicide when medical professionals say it isn’t.
The plan of action of “right to die” activists is and always has been to work on society in order to bring about new attitudes favorable to euthanasia and assisted suicide. Do not be seduced by the death marketers’ spin. Even the high-sounding title of their “Death With Dignity” measures is a lie. Where is the dignity in self-destruction? Where is the honor in helping another commit suicide?
If it takes false advertising to sell a law, you can bet your life there’s something wrong with it.
Oregon’s Death With Dignity Act, the only law of its kind in the nation, permits a physician to prescribe a fatal drug dose upon the request of a person who is expected to die within six months. Willfully taking a mouthful of pills in order to end one’s life is suicide, but “right to die” activists dislike such honest and direct language. Their polling data revealed that when a softer term such as “physician-aid-in-dying” was used instead of “physician-assisted suicide” to describe exactly the same proposal, the proposal garnered significantly more support. So, they demanded a change in language, believing that not calling suicide what it is would help legalize physician-assisted suicide (PAS) in other states.
In 2006, each and every assisted-suicide measure failed even though PAS activists thought they were going to taste victory in many states. They blamed their failures on the media for using the word “suicide” to describe these measures. But the death marketers never give up, they just craft a new advertising campaign. Already in 2007, several states have PAS proposals before their legislatures—Vermont, for instance. Dr. David Babbott, who supports that state’s “Death With Dignity” bill, declared, “We believe that ‘S’ word is an inflammatory word and we don’t use it.” (Darren Perron, Channel 3 News, Montpelier, VT, 1/12/07)
Compassion & Choices—a group formed by the merger of End of Life Choices (formerly the Hemlock Society) and Compassion In Dying—has helped facilitate the deaths of about three-quarters of the Oregonians who have requested PAS. George Eighmey, director of Compassion & Choices of Oregon, claims they often hear from people who want to avail themselves of the law, but who find the term “physician-assisted suicide” offensive. (The Oregonian, 11/11/06) Obviously, the social stigma and religious prohibitions attached to the act of killing oneself make the word “suicide” a powerful deterrent. And, just as obviously, Eighmey and his colleagues don’t want anyone to be deterred from committing suicide under the law. Therefore, last year, his group lobbied Oregon’s Department of Human Services (DHS) to adopt “value-neutral language.” Not wanting a court battle, the agency capitulated. DHS now blandly refers to patients who ask physicians to help them commit suicide as "persons who use the Oregon Death With Dignity Act."
Following suit, the American Public Health Association (APHA), which represents more than 50,000 members, has rejected the term “assisted suicide” in favor of “aid-in-dying” or “patient-directed dying.” APHA’s Governing Council adopted an interim resolution in November that advises reporters, educators, public policy makers and medical personnel to use these “value-neutral terms.” Compassion & Choices is banking on many of us being gullible enough to believe that suicide isn’t really suicide when medical professionals say it isn’t.
The plan of action of “right to die” activists is and always has been to work on society in order to bring about new attitudes favorable to euthanasia and assisted suicide. Do not be seduced by the death marketers’ spin. Even the high-sounding title of their “Death With Dignity” measures is a lie. Where is the dignity in self-destruction? Where is the honor in helping another commit suicide?
If it takes false advertising to sell a law, you can bet your life there’s something wrong with it.
Labels: Physician-Assisted Suicide