Press Room

For immediate release
January 22, 2008

Contact: Matt Sande, Director of Legislation, (262) 352-0890
or Virginia Zignego, Director of Communications, (262) 796-1111

Senate Committee to Hear Assisted Suicide Bill
Pro-Life Wisconsin to send message that Wisconsin stands for life, not death


The Senate public health committee will hold a public hearing Wednesday, January 23, on Senate Bill (SB) 151, legislation legalizing physician-assisted suicide (PAS) in Wisconsin. Pro-Life Wisconsin strongly opposes SB 151and will publicly testify against the bill.

“Any attempt to target the vulnerable in Wisconsin through assisted suicide will be resisted with every fiber of our being,” said Peggy Hamill, state director of Pro-Life Wisconsin. “Assisted suicide, no matter how compassionate it may seem on the surface, is nothing more than a cruel lie. To the terminally ill, it tells them that there is no meaning to their life and that when they become a ‘burden’ to others suicide is the easiest answer for everyone. It also robs them of something integral to the human spirit – hope. Real compassion takes time and commitment. It means standing by someone and bearing their burden.”

Senate Bill 151, authored by Senator Fred Risser (D-Madison) and Representative Frank Boyle (D-Superior), would “permit certain individuals to make written requests for medication for the purpose of ending their lives.” It would legalize assisted suicide for people over the age of 18 who have a “terminal disease” and who make a written request to their attending physician for medication to kill themselves. A physician who refuses to participate in the assisted suicide must make a good faith attempt to transfer the patient to another physician whom he or she knows will help kill the patient. If the physician does not make an attempt to transfer, he or she may be charged with “unprofessional conduct.”

“In a stark denial of reality, the bill states that requesting and taking prescribed medication to end your life does not constitute ‘suicide,’” said Hamill. “If this isn’t suicide, I don’t know what is. Pro-lifers will stand strong on Wednesday to expose the deadly truth about this legislation. We will send a strong message to our elected officials that we will not allow the state to sanction the destruction of the vulnerable disabled, elderly, depressed or other marginalized lives around us,” said Hamill.

In the State of Oregon, where assisted suicide is legal, Kaiser Permanente Northwest HMO has not merely permitted doctors to assist in patient suicides – it has actively solicited its doctors to participate in this deadly practice. In August of 2002, a Kaiser executive e-mailed a memo to more than 800 Kaiser doctors recruiting PAS-doctor volunteers. According to Portland psychiatrist Gregory Hamilton, MD, this email represents the first step down the slippery slope of killing patients to save money.

“In an age of soaring healthcare costs and cutbacks, how much longer until the ‘right to die’ becomes the ‘duty to die?’” said Matt Sande, Pro-Life Wisconsin’s Director of Legislation. “How much longer until those considered a ‘burden’ on society are systematically denied healthcare and life-saving measures in order to cut costs? The great state of Wisconsin can do better than assisted suicide.”

A 2002 study of the impact of Oregon’s “Death with Dignity Act” revealed that ninety percent of Oregon assisted-suicide patients change their minds. According to Dr. Susan Tolle, director of the Center for Ethics in Health Care at Oregon Health and Science University and head of the study, most people who ask their doctor about assisted suicide are simply depressed or fearful of pain. If properly counseled and treated, 90% choose to continue living.

“Right to die” forces routinely speak of patients dying in intractable pain. They call killing oneself a “basic human right” that should be constitutionally protected. Yet medical studies show that virtually all pain can be alleviated at the end of life. A study by the World Health Organization found that 95 to 100 percent of the pain experienced by people at the end of life can be adequately controlled.

“Instead of killing the pain, these ‘right to die’ activists focus on killing the patient,” said Sande. “Few of them seem enthusiastic about educating healthcare professionals about the amazing advances in palliative care.”

The public hearing will take place in Room 411 South of the State Capitol Building at 10:00 a.m.

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