Washington Group Building Assisted Suicide Free Zones With Doctors, Hospitals

Bioethics   |   Steven Ertelt   |   Jan 1, 2009   |   9:00AM   |   WASHINGTON, DC

Washington Group Building Assisted Suicide Free Zones With Doctors, Hospitals

by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
January 1
, 2009

Olympia, WA (LifeNews.com) — One of the leading groups that tried to defeat the November ballot proposal voters approved to make the state the second to legalize assisted suicide is no trying to counteract the measure. The Coalition Against Assisted Suicide is working with hospitals and doctors to create assisted suicide free zones.

Katie Martin of CAAS tells LifeNews.com that she is hearing from Washington citizens who want to patronize doctors and medical centers committed to refusing to be involved in assisted suicides.

"We have received calls from across the state from Washington residents concerned about their hospitals, care facilities or doctors participating in assisted suicide," she said.

"Senior citizens, people with disabilities and caregivers have contacted us to ask how to make sure the facilities in their communities remain safe harbors, ‘assisted suicide-free zones,’" Martin elaborated.

In response to the demand, CAAS has crafted a series of template letters that can be sent to hospitals, nursing homes, hospices, pharmacies, doctors and clinics to encourage them to refuse to participate in assisted suicide.

With so many officials and physicians meeting this month to determine their internal policies, Martin says now is the perfect time to contact them and urge them to not engage in the grisly practice of killing patients.

"Obviously, the more encouragement they receive to refuse to participate in assisted suicide, the better chance terminally ill and sick patients have of receiving truly good medical care and not lethal drug overdoses at the hands of their doctors," she said.

CAAS can send anyone interested the sample letters to use or form as a basis of an original letter to your doctor or medical center.

"We need as many people on this bandwagon as possible to help keep our loved ones safe," Martin says. "This is a critical way to help protect the vulnerable in our state."

Oregon was the first state to legalize assisted suicide and Washington became the second following the approval of I-1000. Montana may become the third state depending on the outcome of a lawsuit that a state judge has used to legalize assisted suicide there.

Related web sites:
Coalition Against Assisted Suicide – https://www.noassistedsuicide.com

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