Assisted suicide measure
could die early in Senate

A Senate leader says he will not
hear the death-with-dignity bill

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By Richard Borreca
rborreca@starbulletin.com

Gov. Ben Cayetano is lobbying for a death-with-dignity bill, proposed by his administration and poised for passage in the state House, but the proposal may be dead on arrival in the Senate.

Senate Health Committee Chairman David Matsuura said yesterday he will not hold a hearing on a doctor-assisted suicide bill if it passes the full House. That apparently would mean the death of the measure.

"Absolutely, I will not hear assisted suicide," said Matsuura (D, South Hilo-Puna). "This dumb bill wasn't even on our radar screen. I haven't even looked at the measure or studied this measure yet. I can't figure out what assisted suicide is.

"The fact that you're going to send somebody 50 barbiturates, there's no dignity of that death. You've got to take it alone, or are you going to let your family watch you take that, and if you're able to orally take 50 barbiturates, that death ain't going to be pretty."

Cayetano, at a news conference yesterday, praised House Judiciary Chairman Eric Hamakawa (D, South Hilo-Puna), for first holding a hearing on the bill and then passing it. By an 8-1 vote, the committee passed the measure and a companion bill for a constitutional amendment to allow assisted suicide.

"Rep. Hamakawa showed a lot of political courage," Cayetano said.

This is the second time Cayetano has tried to move a death-with-dignity bill through the Legislature.

Yesterday, he said that while he understands that it is controversial and does not have many supporters, "it means a great deal" for those who have had a loved one with a terminal illness.

The bill would allow a doctor to provide the "administration of death with dignity to persons who request it and who are suffering from a terminal condition."

The bill, modeled after a law in Oregon, the only state to permit assisted suicide, is controversial, and while the House Judiciary Committee has approved it, the amended version of the bill and its committee report were not available yesterday.

Matsuura noted that the Oregon law is under attack from U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft, who said doctors using federally controlled drugs to help patients die will lose their license to prescribe the drugs.

Cayetano said he hopes Matsuura will rise above pressure from religious groups opposing the measure and his own personal beliefs and schedule a hearing on the measure.

Cayetano said a person's religious convictions should not affect decisions on passing a state law. He recalled how former Gov. John Burns, a devoted Catholic, allowed an abortion bill to be approved in Hawaii, even though he had religious objections to the bill.

"He was able to separate his own religious beliefs," Cayetano said.

Matsuura said the issue was not a matter of religious objections, but that he had concerns with how the bill was written.

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The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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