HB 1141 needed

A Guest Opinion on Feb. 24 by the Washington state director for the American Academy of Medical Ethics, Sharon Quick, M.D. (“HB 1141 would do disservice to vulnerable patients”) takes exception to the bill because “There is no legitimate reason to reduce the time a terminally ill patient has to wait between requesting and receiving lethal drugs.”

While the doctor mentions the names of several patients whose cases have reason to have been suspect because of coercion by a relative or the doctor was wrong about life expectancy, in no case in the article does she mention that the age of a patient at the time of diagnosis or death might suggest that the age of a patient and other underlying health conditions might play a significant part of having to wait 15 days rather than 72 hours to receive requested lethal drugs. (Pain medication and counseling don’t work for everyone.)

I also might add that I’m 75 years old, have never been anywhere near suicidal or terminally ill, but know that I’d most likely feel much differently about a prognosis of terminality at 75 than I would at a younger age.

It’s time for a federal right to die law. Three states that I know of and counting.

Judith Maibie

Spokane