U.S. Senator Sam Brownback has introduced into the US Congress the Assisted Suicide Prevention Act, which would prohibit doctors from prescribing federally-controlled substances for the purpose of physician-assisted suicide.
“When the law permits killing as a medical ‘treatment,’ society’s moral guidelines are blurred, and killing could gain acceptance as a solution for the chronically ill or vulnerable,” said Brownback.
“Doctor-assisted suicide could actually create a financial incentive for insurance companies to encourage prematurely ending the lives of those in need of long-term care.”
Derek Humphry responds: Here they come again! The religious right trying to make others conform to their particular ethics. His last remark about insurance companies is pure nonsense and has no basis in fact. Instead of working on solutions to what looks like World War III, Congress seems intent on making it more difficult for the terminally ill to die peacefully, according to their own wishes.
The comment about insurance companies encouraging people to prematurely end their lives is worse than nonsense–it is a false claim debunked several years ago by a study published in the NEJM, by a staunch opponent of aid in dying (Emanuel) and a staunch proponent (Battin). And, as I point out in “Patient-Directed Dying,” no insurance company could entice any physicians to save costs in this way without being found out, which would be the ruination of the company. Brownback’s comment is yet another example of someone making a serious accusation for political purposes, without any knowledge of the issue. It’s disgraceful, but then, what else is new?