By Kane Levings
On October 22, 2019, Marieke Vervoort ended her life at the age of 40 through legal euthanasia in her home country of Belgium. Ms. Vervoort was a Paralympic gold medalist who in 2002 was diagnosed with an incurable degenerative disease which lead her to be wheelchair-bound. She lived with “unbroken pain and sleepless nights.”[1] With such a painful disease, all she wanted was control of her own life and, while she was in training for the Paralympics, she felt that control. When she was not in training, Ms. Vervoort felt she had no control of her life. She regained that control when she signed the euthanasia papers in 2016.[2] She said, “[i]f I didn’t have those [euthanasia] papers, I think I’d have done suicide already. I think there will be fewer suicides when every country has the law of euthanasia.”[3] For Ms. Vervoort, death by euthanasia was “something peaceful.”
People increasingly are demanding the right to make their own decisions about health care, including the right to control the timing of their death. Proponents of physician-assisted death[4]argue that the choice of a timely and dignified death is a basic human right.[5] Opponents contend that palliative care and hospice are sufficient alternatives to relieve pain and suffering and that medical assistance in committing suicide is not a fundamental human right.[6] By listening to the demands of the people, every state or the federal government should permit the right to physician-assisted death with dignity. When legalizing physician-assisted death with dignity it is important to have uniform laws that require the procedure to be the same in every state.
Euthanasia is the painless killing or permitted death of individuals who are ill or injured beyond hope of recovery.[7]Physician-assisted death is the practice of a physician providing the means for a person with decision-making capacity to take his or her own life, usually with a prescription for barbiturates that the patient takes themselves.[8] The difference between euthanasia and physician-assisted death is the degree of involvement in the process. Physician-assisted death involves writing lethal prescriptions for a patient to use at a time the patient chooses. In contrast, euthanasia entails the physician taking an active role in carrying out the patient’s request; it usually involves intravenous injection of a lethal substance. Some countries have legalized both methods, while others have legalized one or the other. In the United States, only a few states have legalized physician-assisted death; none have legalized euthanasia. In order to be prescribed life-ending medications, individuals must have a terminal illness with a prognosis of six months or less.[9] Physicians who prescribe medications to induce death cannot be prosecuted in the states that have legalized physician-assisted death.[10] The methods vary in each state, but typically physician-assisted death involves a prescription from a licensed physician approved by the state in which the patient is a resident.[11]
HISTORY OF PHYSICIAN-ASSISTED DEATH IN THE UNITED STATES
In June 1997, the United States Supreme Court ruled that state laws which ban physician-assisted death do not violate the Constitution.[12] Between June 1997 and June 2019, eight states and the District of Columbia have passed bills that legalize physician-assisted death. Out of the nine jurisdictions, seven have legalized physician-assisted death by statute; these include California, Hawaii, Maine, New Jersey, Oregon, Vermont, and Washington. Furthermore, the Supreme Court of Montana made physician-assisted death legal by its rule in Baxter v. Montana.[13]
EUTHANASIA IN OTHER COUNTRIES
Internationally, euthanasia and physician-assisted death are currently legal in Belgium, Canada, Columbia, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, and Switzerland.[14]In the Netherlands, there is no requirement for a patient to be terminally ill or endure a mandatory waiting period in order to qualify for euthanasia. In Belgium, Ms. Vervoort’s native country, competent children can receive euthanasia if they are both terminally ill and in significant pain. The latest foreign jurisdiction to legalize physician-assisted death is Australia, the state of Victoria. Victoria law requires the patient be terminally ill with a life expectancy of six-months or less, extended to 12 months or less if the patient has a neurodegenerative illness.
THE RIGHT TO CHOOSE DEATH
There should be a consensus on what physician-assisted death is called in order to better control the discourse. If it is called physician-assisted death with dignity, it opens the conversation to what it should be about: protecting the rights of individuals who have six-months or less prognosis and/or are in extreme, unending pain. When an individual learns from their physician that they have a prognosis of six-months or less to live, death can consume their thoughts. At a minimum, there needs to be a strong, uniform law in place among states for euthanasia and physician-assisted death to be undertaken. Once a patient takes a lethal dose of medication there is no turning back – the patient and physician’s commitment to the process must be rock-solid. As medical science advances over time, we must continually re-evaluate the process of physician-assisted death. In approaching the topic in this way, I believe it highlights the voice of people who want to gain a level of control for their life choices back after living in pain or learning of their imminent death.
[1]Lee Brown, Paralympian Marieke Vervoort Dead from Legal Euthanasia in Belgium, NY Post(October 23, 2019, 7:48 AM), https://nypost.com/2019/10/23/paralympian-marieke-vervoort-dead-from-legal-euthanasia-in-belgium/.
[2]Id.
[3]Id.
[4]Physician-assisted death is most often called “physician-assisted suicide,” but I will use physician-assisted death throughout.
[5]Joseph Chamie, Assisted Suicide: Human Right or Homicide?YaleGlobalOnline (August 9, 2018), https://yaleglobal.yale.edu/content/assisted-suicide-human-right-or-homicide.
[6]Id.
[7]Timothy E. Quill & Bernard Sussman, Physician Assisted Death, The Hastings Center,https://www.thehastingscenter.org/briefingbook/physician-assisted-death/.
[8]Id.
[9] Physician Assisted Suicide Fast Facts, CNN(August 1, 2019, 9:16 AM), https://www.cnn.com/2014/11/26/us/physician-assisted-suicide-fast-facts/index.html.
[10]Id.
[11]Id.
[12]See generallyWashington v. Glucksberg, 521 U.S. 702 (1997).
[13]See generally Baxter v. Montana, 2009 MT 449 (2009) (holding that nothing in the state law prohibits physicians from prescribing medication to hasten patient’s death).
[14]Assisted Dying in Other Countries(2018), https://www.mydeath-mydecision.org.uk/info/assisted-dying-in-other-countries/.
Kane Levings is a 2L day student at Suffolk University Law School. Kane is interested in pursuing a career in housing law, specifically tenants’ rights, fair and affordable housing.
Sources
https://time.com/5708138/paralympic-athlete-marieke-vervoort-dies-euthanasia/
https://nypost.com/2019/10/23/paralympian-marieke-vervoort-dead-from-legal-euthanasia-in-belgium/
https://www.cnn.com/2014/11/26/us/physician-assisted-suicide-fast-facts/index.html
https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/182951.php#euthanasia-and-assisted-suicide-
https://www.worldrtd.net/qanda/what-difference-between-assisted-dying-and-euthanasia
Disclaimer: The views expressed in this blog are the views of the author alone and do not represent the views of JHBL or Suffolk University Law School.