OLYMPIA, Wash. — Terminally ill patients with less than six months to live will soon be able to ask their doctors to prescribe them lethal medication in Washington state.
But even though the "Death with Dignity" law takes effect Thursday, people who might seek the life-ending prescriptions could find their doctors conflicted or not willing to write them.
Many doctors are hesitant to talk publicly about where they stand on the issue, said Dr. Tom Preston, a retired cardiologist and board member of Compassion & Choices, the group that campaigned for and supports the law.
"There are a lot of doctors, who in principle, would approve or don't mind this, but for a lot of social or professional reasons, they don't want to be involved," he said.
But Preston said discussions about end-of-life issues between doctor and patient will increase because of the new law, and he thinks that as time goes on more and more doctors who don't have a religious or philosophical opposition will be open to participating.
"It will be a cultural shift," he said.
A Cultural shift? I won't argue about that. With laws pending that would take away a doctors's moral choice in performing abortions, will they be forced to kill you also? In a nationized health care scenario would your life be worth saving to fit the bottom life of an overburdened, overtaxed system? "Mercy killing?"There is no mercy from a Christian's standpoint of eternal life with eternal consequences. Wesley taught that we should not neglect the poor. I agree. There is a difference between the church giving compassionate care and a government dictated system with humanistic standards. .Something to pray about...keith 1 Cor 13
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