@johnpowell Sorry to go way back to the beginning, but I have a question about your description of the Oregon Death with Dignity Act. Here is what you said:
“You must see three separate doctors that say you have less than six months to live. And they must all agree that you are mentally sound. Then you get a significant amount of counseling before given the option.”
My question is about the last part. Specifically, is the counseling mandatory, or merely customary? Because my understanding is that one of the main objections to Measure 16 (and one of the primary arguments given in favor of Measure 51, which would have repealed it) was that the Death with Dignity Act did not require any sort of counseling by a member of the psychological profession. Were you referring, then, to the counseling that one’s physician is supposed to perform?
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@keobooks I take it that your objection is something like this: It may be the case that Oregon requires three doctors to declare you mentally sound before you are allowed to take advantage of assisted suicide, but none of those doctors are (required to be) psychologists. As much respect as we may have for them as professionals, then, we should really—at minimum—be bringing in someone who has mental health as an area of expertise when it comes to matters as serious and permanent as this.
I realize that this may not be your only objection. But it seems to be the one stated in your last post.
Now, I’m going to leave aside @SQUEEKY2‘s point about the terminal illness requirement. Because while I do think that’s important to the overall argument, I take it that NDY is in part concerned with those who would extend the right to assisted suicide beyond the terminally ill. And while that isn’t part of the current political discussion, it may be worth taking into consideration.
My question for you, then, is this: why do your concerns constitute a reason to oppose the legalization of assisted suicide rather than just a reason to make sure that assisted suicide is highly (and perhaps better) regulated? That is, your objection seems to be to ways that assisted suicide could be abused rather than to assisted suicide itself.