Today the Dr. OZ show featured the topic of assisted suicide. The Dr. OZ show is a popular daytime talk show on NBC that took the place of the Oprah show. Although we did not watch the show, the Dr. OZ show website posted two essays revealing both sides of the assisted suicide argument. The argument against assisted suicide was made by Ari Ne’eman, a Member of the National Council on Disability, an independent federal agency which advises Congress and the President on disability policy. His excellent article makes the case that assisted suicide undoubtely expands to the disabled.
Ne’eman writes “Indeed, ample evidence suggests proponents of physician-assisted suicide have never intended to stop at the terminally ill. Legislation introduced in New Hampshire in 2009 would have utilized a definition of terminal illness so broad as to allow for a lethal prescription in response to any condition which shortens lifespan without a known treatment – even if the individual in question might have lived years or even decades longer.
Take the case of Tracy Latimer, a 12-year-old Canadian girl with significant developmental disabilities who was murdered by her father. Following the father’s conviction for second-degree murder, the executive director of the Toronto chapter of Dying With Dignity asserted he should serve no sentence, as “the Latimers had already lived under a sentence during the 12 years that Tracy was alive.” We cannot allow such cases to set the standard. The United States can, and should, do better.”
Link to the article here http://www.doctoroz.com/videos/death-on-demand-risks