Connecticut Hospice released the third and fourth installments in its video series on assisted suicide. They have some of the most powerful content yet.
In Part Three, Dr. Andrews describes his connection to some of the assisted suicide victims of “Dr. Death” Jack Kevorkian, pointing out that the long-term trauma one family experienced after learning how their loved one’s life ended has certainly equaled, if not surpassed the grief that would have accompanied a natural death. Commenters, in their wisdom, are claiming that Dr. Andrews is uninformed about the bill, but H.B. 7015 does not require family to be notified of a request for assisted suicide. Furthermore, it mandates a cover-up by falsification of death certificates.
Part Four shows that when someone takes the time to get to the bottom of a person’s wish to die, really listening to all his or her worries, it can change everything. By providing a real choice, that person no longer wants assisted suicide. Even absent force, there will be a chill on such insightful conversations if the public has bought into the hollow notion of “safeguards” and a doctor is afraid to violate someone’s “right.”
Bravo to Connecticut Hospice on this eloquent series, which we will be continuing to follow.