Where I Stand -- Mike O'Callaghan: House protects healers

Mike O'Callaghan is the Las Vegas Sun executive editor.

THE HOUSE of Representatives, by a vote of 271-156, drew the wrath of Oregonians who see it as an attempt to put a halter on their physician-assisted suicide law. The New York Times reports that: "From the Governor to the people in the street, Oregonians were invoking the phrase states' rights today, and the Congressional action only seems to have solidified the notion here that the people of Oregon, arguably the most aggressively libertarian in the country, should have the right to decide this issue themselves."

It's OK for the federal courts and lawmakers to assure the right of having partial-birth abortions, but to interfere with their law making medical healers into medical killers really upsets the people of Oregon and their politicians. Actually the recently passed House legislation does more for giving pain relief to suffering people than it does to kill the Oregon law. The bill is called the Pain Relief Promotion Act.

Remember the original idea of physician-assisted suicide was to give pain relief for terminally ill people. Last year 15 people took the Oregon way out and most of them did it because of personal beliefs and fear of becoming dependent on families. This comes down to promoting suicide and eventually homicide for economic reasons. Pain relief has long ago been forgotten and been replaced by convenient euthanasia in the Netherlands where physician-assisted suicide is also legal. This is the road Oregon appears to be following.

The Journal of the American Medical Association in 1997 concluded an article about the Dutch practices as follows: "From our point of view, there has been an erosion of medical standards in the care of terminally ill patients in the Netherlands. The 1990 and 1995 studies document that 59 percent of Dutch physicians do not report their cases of assisted suicide and euthanasia, more than 50 percent feel free to suggest euthanasia to their patients, and about 25 percent admit to ending patients' lives without their consent."

In reality the House legislation doesn't prevent Oregonians from using other than "controlled substances" if they want to kill themselves or others. Those drugs not controlled by federal laws and regulations can still be prescribed by Oregon doctors.

Former surgeon general Dr. C. Everett Koop, when discussing this issue, reminded us that "The Hippocratic Oath, which commands physicians above all to do no harm, is the most enduring ethical legacy in our medical profession. Society will rue the day it permits doctors to be killers as well as healers."

Evan J. Kemp Jr., former chairman of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, gave us an even sterner warning when writing, "Assisted suicide starts us on the road to a deadly form of controlling health-care costs. The wealthy will stay alive because they can afford medical resources. Poor people with chronic health conditions and those who deviate too far from the norm will be encouraged to 'choose' assisted suicide."

So what does the House legislation do? It supports the right of doctors to use narcotics for pain relief, even if the unintended result is death, and provides grants for health care workers to be trained in pain mitigation. This is a needed requirement, as many doctors fear to aggressively treat pain because they are worried that regulators may second guess them. Some progressive states have already passed this law, which has resulted in greater use of drugs relieving pain.

Nevada's Rep. Jim Gibbons voted for the Pain Relief Promotion Act. The sooner this bill becomes law the more quickly health care givers can concentrate efforts on relieving pain rather than ending life.

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