On November 5, West Virginians will decide whether to amend the state constitution to ban medically assisted suicide, euthanasia and mercy killings.
Here’s what you need to know to decide whether to vote for or against the amendment.
What is the difference between medically assisted suicide, euthanasia and mercy killing?
Physician-assisted suicide is sometimes referred to as medical aid in dying.
It occurs “when a patient, with the help of a doctor, performs a life-ending act.”
Euthanasia occurs when a doctor administers a life-ending drug.
Mercy killing is another word for euthanasia, although some ethicists believe that this word specifically means euthanasia without the person’s consent.
What does the proposed amendment say and do?
When you receive your ballot, it will say: The purpose of this amendment is to protect West Virginians from medically assisted suicide.
You will then receive the following instructions:
To vote for a tabled amendment, darken the oval next to “FOR”.
To vote against an amendment, darken the oval next to “Against.”
However, the amendment would add the following text to the state Bill of Rights:
“No person, physician or health care provider in the State of West Virginia may engage in the practice of medically assisted suicide, euthanasia or mercy killing. Nothing in this section prohibits the administration or prescription of drugs for the relief of pain or discomfort while the patient’s condition is progressing naturally; nor does anything in this section prohibit the withholding or withdrawal of life-sustaining treatment at the request of a patient or patient’s decision-maker as permitted by State law. Moreover, nothing in this section prevents the State from imposing the death penalty.”
Isn’t this already illegal in West Virginia?
If the amendment is adopted, it will have no immediate effect. Current law no longer prohibits medically assisted suicide. If you have a medical power of attorney for your loved one, current West Virginia law allows you to refuse life-prolonging treatment if that is the patient’s wishes or if he or she is unable to express his or her wishes. This amendment to the constitution will not change that. This would make it more tough for lawmakers – at a later date – to legalize physician-assisted suicide in the state.
As it currently stands, lawmakers could introduce a bill to allow medically assisted suicide and pass it during the regular session.
But by adding the ban to West Virginia’s constitution, lawmakers would make it harder to ever legalize it through law. Removing a constitutional provision would require adopting another joint resolution and then returning the matter to voters to remove the constitutional prohibition. Court decisions or a constitutional convention can also change the constitution.
The death penalty/capital punishment was abolished in West Virginia in 1965.
Earlier this year in the Senate, Sen. Eric Tarr, R-Putnam, added some language to a proposed constitutional amendment to exclude the death penalty from the ban on medically assisted suicide.
What do the supporters of the amendment say?
Last session, the Republican-led Legislature voted, with majority Republican support, to place the amendment on the ballot. Del. Pat McGeehan, R-Hancock, pushed for this amendment and was its most outspoken supporter. Influential House Speaker Roger Hanshaw, R-Clay, also sponsored the House joint resolution.
Groups opposing physician-assisted suicide include disability rights advocates and anti-abortion groups.
West Virginians for Life supports the amendment because of its stance on the sanctity of human life from fetus to end of life and wants only natural deaths to be allowed. In an interview, Mary Tillman, legislative director of the West Virginians for Life subcommittee of the WV Alliance for Ethical Health, said the organization was concerned that West Virginia could follow in the footsteps of other states that have allowed the practice.
“We do not want to cold-bloodedly encourage elderly and sick people to commit suicide,” she said.
McGeehan said patients seeking this option may actually have lost hope and are calling out for support because they need intervention and support from family and friends.
What do the opponents of the amendment say?
Opponents of the amendment include the American Civil Liberties Union of West Virginia and the national group Compassion & Choices.
“The right to avoid excruciating, life-ending pain is essential to bodily autonomy and fundamental freedom,” the ACLU of WV said in a statement. “It is especially cruel in West Virginia. We already boast one of the oldest and sickest populations in the country.”
A statement from the League of Women Voters said the amendment was “another example of the government attempting to interfere in very difficult and personal medical decisions.”
Compassion & Choices, a national group working to implement medical aid in dying laws at the state and federal levels, aims to support patients develop end-of-life plans. The organization wants to provide access to practice and provide terminally ill patients with an option, with a broader vision of “a society that affirms life and accepts the inevitability of death.”
Ten states and Washington. DC allows the practice of medically assisted suicide.
What do doctors say about physician-assisted suicide?
The American Medical Association’s code of ethics offers two opinions on this highly controversial practice, while noting that both supporters and opponents of the medical profession “share a fundamental commitment to the values of care, compassion, respect and dignity.”
The first opinion is that the doctor’s job is to cure, and assisting suicide is inconsistent with this. Physicians should be attentive to patients’ needs, which should include contact with caregivers who can provide emotional and spiritual support and comfort when they suffer from debilitating illness and pain.
The second opinion is that doctors must follow their own moral codes and act according to their beliefs. However, the AMA code provides guidelines that physicians should consider before offering medical assistance in dying. These include: being truthful with the patient about the practice’s support when seeing patients, considering whether a delay in doing so would result in significant emotional harm to the patient, informing the patient about all end-of-life options, and considering the impact of one’s actions on the medical community as a whole.
