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Does assisted suicide cause abuses?

Written by DeadGirl
Monday, 29 May 2006
By Lisa Chun and Meghan O`connell May 27, 2006 WASHINGTON, DC, United States (UPI) -- Politicians and advocates argued on the issue of assisted suicide Thursday, contending that legalization either offers a dignifying comfort or leads to abuses, in a hearing before the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights and Property Rights. With Oregon as the only state to have legalized assisted suicide, the issue faces tough political opposition by many who are not only concerned about the procedure, but what it may lead to. Witnesses at the hearing who opposed assisted suicide referred to cases of euthanasia in the Netherlands. Euthanasia involves doctors administering medication, while physicians may only prescribe dosages for assisted suicide. 'I knew from published medical studies that Dutch doctors admitted, on condition of anonymity, to putting approximately 1,000 patients to death a year without the patient`s request,' said Jonathan Imbody, senior policy analyst at the Christian Medical Association. Wesley J. Smith, a senior fellow at the Discovery Institute, a non-partisan think tank, echoed reports of high rates of euthanasia deaths in the Netherlands, and also noted that the country allows the euthanizing of the clinically depressed and infants with birth defects. Kathryn Tucker, director of legal affairs at Compassion and Choices, spoke on the other end of the spectrum, emphasizing that the situation in Oregon differs from that in the Netherlands by the safeguards incorporated in its Death with Dignity Act. The Oregon law stipulates that only patients can administer lethal prescriptions. And doctors issuing such dosages must ensure that patients are mentally competent, informed of alternatives and have a terminal illness that will lead to death within six months. 'Dying patients should be empowered to control their own dying processes,' Tucker said. She cited instances in which family assisted in a loved one`s death, or patients killed themselves when forced to back-alley alternatives to assisted suicide. 'The question is not whether assisted dying will occur,' Tucker wrote in her testimony, 'but rather whether it will occur in a regulated and controlled fashion, or ... in a random, dangerous and unregulated matter.' Opponents of assisted suicide speaking at the hearing suggested that if the United States were to legalize the procedure, it could easily spiral into the practice of euthanasia, both voluntary and unsought, and physicians pressuring patients to choose death. 'The slippery slope is not theoretical; this is exactly what happened in the Netherlands,' Imbody said. Diane Coleman, president of the organization Not Dead Yet, said doctors in Oregon are already exerting pressure on sick patients to end their lives. She also said that the sick, elderly and disabled would feel obligated to turn to assisted suicide and that caregivers might use this to their advantage were it legalized at a national level. 'It devalues costly people,' Coleman said. Tucker, however, said that the dignity act has brought comfort to families and patients who wish to exert some control over their situations. Julie S. McMurchie testified to the solace that her mother found in assisted suicide after she was diagnosed with cancer and eventually bedridden by pain. 'I feel that my family was given a gift that morning,' McMurchie said, her voice shaking with emotion. 'The inevitability of my mother`s death was not in question. Her choice to hasten that inevitability was a reflection of her values and emblematic of the personal freedom our country prizes.' Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., noted that over the eight years the Oregon law has been in effect, an average of about 30 Oregonians per year have used the lethal prescriptions, while many glean comfort from having the option stored in their medicine cabinets. The message received from the American people, Wyden said, has been that 'death is an intensely personal and private moment ... and the government ought not to attempt to override or pre-empt the individual`s and family`s values, religious beliefs or wishes.' http://news.monstersandcritics.com/lifestyle/consumerhealth/article_1167622.php/Does_assisted_suicide_cause_abuses

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Taphophilia?

taphophilia (taf′ō-fil′ē-ă)

ORIGIN:
From the Greek words taphos, meaning "tomb" or "sepulcher" and philia, meaning "attraction or affinity to something, in particular the love or obsession with something"

DEFINITION: 1. An excessive interest in graves and cemeteries. 2. A love or fondness for funerals, graves, and cemeteries. 3. In psychiatry, a morbid attraction to graves and cemeteries