Are we being repetitive? Yes. Brittany Maynard’s planned suicide has unleashed a cacophony of voices in opposition to assisted suicide, and we are grateful for the opportunity to give some of those voices a forum here. Read this commentary by Nancy Valko, RN, on the Witherspoon Institute’s blog, Public Discourse, for another view of the dangers inherent in assisted suicide: http://www.thepublicdiscourse.com/2014/10/13979/.
An excerpt: “Many of us have had at least fleeting thoughts of suicide in a time of crisis. Imagine how we would feel if we confided this to a close friend or a relative, who replied, ‘You’re right. I can’t see any other way out either.’ Would we consider this reply as compassionate, or desperately discouraging? The terminally ill or disabled person is no less vulnerable than the rest of us in this respect. And to think that an entire society, through its laws, can give such a response—to you, and to anyone with a similar health condition—may be the ultimate form of suffering.”