The blog Seven Days, which supports assisted suicide, posted the following today. We copied only the parts that refer to S. 77, but you can read the whole thing at http://7d.blogs.com/offmessage/2013/02/the-scoreboard-this-weeks-winners-and-losers-021513.html. True Dignity is very thankful to these winners: The Vermont Senate, Sen. John Campbell, Morris and DeMag, and Peter Galbraith. We don’t think his ego’s big. His brain is though. We also owe thanks to Senator Richard Sears, who held the anti-assisted suicide forces together and won, not everything we wanted but some of it. We thank Senator Bob Hartwell for joining with Senator Galbraith to replace S.77, a bill to legalize assisted suicide, with the new S. 77, a small bill to protect doctors who prescribe enough medication to alleviate their patient’s pain from being charged if the patient decides to misuse it. We thank Senator Ann Cummings for her strikeout amendment that cleaned up some, though not all, of the problematic aspects of Galbraith and Hartwell’s first strikeout amendment. We thank all the senators who voted to replace the assisted suicide bill with this better one, one we could live with if we had to, one that no amount of Compassion and Choices or media spin can possibly turn into an assisted suicide bill. What an interesting week this has been. Next: the House.
The Scoreboard: This Week’s Winners and Losers
Posted by Paul Heintz on February 15, 2013 at 04:40 PM in The Scoreboard, Vermont | Permalink
Forgive our single-minded focus, but this week’s debate in the Vermont Senate over doctor-assisted death (Or was it “death with dignity” or “physician-assisted suicide? MUST NOT OFFEND READERS, so we’ll just call it S.77) was one for the history books.
That said, there were plenty of other winners and losers this week. So, without further ado, here’s The Scoreboard for the week of Friday, February 15:
Winners:
The Vermont Senate — Love S.77 or hate it, the Vermont Senate conducted itself in fine form this week. Sure, debate dragged on and tensions ran high, but for the most part senators kept things civil and thoughtful. Has the Senate learned how to behave?
Sen. John Campbell — The Senate President Pro Tem garnered praise from S.77 backers for bringing a bill he disliked to the floor for an up-or-down vote. He also got his way, for the most part, by gutting the legislation.
Headline writers — Nothing like a bill called “death with dignity” to get the headline-writing juices flowin’. Good thing it’s still alive… Get it?
Morris & DeMag — Faced with steep odds after Tuesday’s 17-13 vote, the anti-S.77 lobby shop got the job done, dividing and conquering the bill’s supporters from its wafflers.
Sen. Peter Galbraith’s ego — Who knew it could get any bigger?!