Hawaii's World
by A. A. Smyser
by A. A. Smyser
Washington state, whose law against assisted suicide was overturned, has until early June to file an appeal. The current legality of assisting a suicide is confirmed by Hawaii's senior judge on the appeals court, Herbert S. Choy. He was not on the panel that heard the Washington case but he is one of 13 senior (or retired) judges who still help the 25 active judges with their heavy caseload.
Even though a window of opportunity is open to legally assist suicides in the Western U.S. I know of no evidence that doctors, patients or even right-to-die organizations are rushing through it.
There are at least three reasons why:
Barbiturates are the drugs of choice, I was told by Dr. Richard MacDonald, who is the national medical adviser for Hemlock U.S.A. Plenty of doctors know how to use them. He says: (1) start with an anti-nausea medication, (2) take the barbiturates mixed in something like orange juice to get rid of the bad taste, (3) drink something to speed up absorption in the blood stream. Booze will do.
Trouble is a lot of pharmacies don't even stock the barbiturates any more because doctors hardly ever prescribe them, MacDonald says. Other effective and non-toxic sedatives have taken their place.
You might get them in Mexico. Even there you would need a doctor's prescription. In some cases this could be fast and cheap but there's no general rule.
And going ahead on a do-it-yourself basis without a doctor standing by could be botched, lead to emergency room care and even prolonged disablement.
The plastic bag method of taking a sleeping pill, then pulling a plastic bag over your head and fastening it tight around your neck with a rubber band also has had a few grotesque failures. It is unattractive for survivors even when it works.
The very clear social goal of all right-to-die advocates should be to have the process safe and even pleasant when a case justifies such help -and is a confirmed and reconfirmed conscious choice of the subject.
Derek Humphry, author of "Final Exit," which prescribes dosages, has described cases of family and friends gathering around for "departures," or at least just before the final act, and going away with very good feelings. I'd find it comforting to check out that way myself at the right time.
The 11-member court decision includes over 150 pages of the majority judgment plus dissents. The majority ruling written by Judge Stephen Reinhardt is said to be carefully crafted to stand by itself as a strong, persuasive presentation to the U.S. Supreme Court.
The high court in 1990 upheld a constitutional right to die in a complicated Missouri case that left controls to the states. It hasn't yet ruled, however, on the right to assist a death.
Newly available and commended by Hemlock U.S.A. sources is "A Model State Act to Authorize and Regulate Physician-Assisted Suicide." It was developed by a panel of nine doctors, lawyers and scholars and published in the Harvard Journal on Legislation, Volume 33, issued in January. More on it in a future column.