Suicide bill gets
second wind

The death-with-dignity
measure stays alive thanks to
a senator's change in strategy

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By Crystal Kua
ckua@starbulletin.com

A key state senator has now decided to hold a hearing on the so-called death-with-dignity bill the House passed last week.

The hearing will be Wednesday, but Senate Health Chairman David Matsuura said he has decided to replace the House physician-assisted suicide bill with language to address issues of liability and problems with Hawaii's "living will" or advanced directives law.

Having an advanced directive allows persons to determine ahead of time whether they want extraordinary measures to prolong life should they become unable mentally or physically to make those decisions.

The problem appears to be that some medical institutions do not fully comply with advanced directives for patients, in some cases taking lifesaving steps against the wishes of a patient's living will, Matsuura (D, South Hilo) said.

"What we found out is, if we can give additional liability protection to institutions and care providers as well as increasing the penalties for not complying with or not doing the last wishes of the patient ... we will solve a lot of the problems," he said. "We realize the significance of the suffering out there, and we need to address that problem."

The House passed two death-with-dignity bills, one modeled after Oregon's doctor-assisted suicide law, the only one of its kind in the country, which Matsuura does not like.

"Basically, if you wanted to terminate your life, you can get a physician to write you a prescription ... a lethal dose, which you would just take and that's it," he said. "It really doesn't solve the problem of suffering."

The Oregon law has come 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.

Matsuura himself has come under fire for not holding hearings on the assisted-suicide bills and for calling the House death-with-dignity measure a "dumb bill," a statement for which he later apologized.

The measure is part of Gov. Ben Cayetano's package of legislation for the session. Cayetano has said that the bill embodies the recommendations of a 1998 blue-ribbon panel.

The governor, lobbying in favor of the bill, was among those calling for Matsuura to hold a hearing and to separate his personal religious views from the merits of the bill. Senate majority leaders also urged Matsuura to hold a hearing.

Matsuura said he has received "stacks of letters" supporting his proposal and against the measure passed by the House.

"This has created quite a debate, which is good," Matsuura said. "People are really talking about end-of-life issues."

Matsuura said the measure he is proposing has a good chance of passing the Senate, but acknowledged that the issue will probably end up in conference committee, where both sides would try to hammer out a compromise.

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The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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