Decision delayed on Heart-wrenching stories of people taking care of their terminally ill loved ones dominated a Senate committee hearing that turned into a debate on whether physician-assisted suicide should be allowed.
assisted-suicide bill
The measure passed the House
and is now before a Senate panelBy Crystal Kua
ckua@starbulletin.com
The so-called death-with-dignity bill that passed out of the House -- House Bill 2487 -- would have allowed a physician to prescribe a lethal dose of medication to terminally ill patients, similar to a law in Oregon, the only state with such a law.
But Sen. David Matsuura, Health and Human Services Committee chairman, took the suicide provisions out of the bill and instead included added a provision he said strengthens Hawaii's living-will law. The bill would give liability protections for caregivers and an increased fine of $2,500 for caregivers who do not abide by the directions in a patient's living will or advance health-care directives.
After about four hours of testimony before his committee, Matsuura held off making a decision until tomorrow on whether to pass out his version of the bill. He said he needed to research the legal ramifications of changes suggested during testimony.
Those in favor of the original House bill were not happy with Matsuura's version but want the bill passed so the issue could stay alive this session.
But those against physician-assisted suicide said the current law is sufficient to assure quality care and pain management for the dying.
"The dangers of House Bill 2487 are the abuses that will come from a law to kill that will kill the poor, the handicapped and the uninformed," said George Thorpe, a deacon with the Catholic Church's Respect Life Office, whose wife died of ovarian cancer. "Please kill the bill, not the people of Hawaii."
Former state Health Director Lawrence Miike, a member of the 1998 Governor's Ribbon Blue Panel on Living and Dying with Dignity, which issued recommendations incorporated into the House bill, said he supports the House bill, which is a matter of choice.
Miike said his mother, who suffers from Alzheimer's disease, was diagnosed three weeks ago with inoperable colon cancer. "She had an advanced directive written in 1991. We are not withholding nutrition, but she cannot keep up with what she needs, so she is slowly fading, which is not a bad way to go."
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