{"id":14689,"date":"2014-02-11T15:28:11","date_gmt":"2014-02-11T04:28:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/imaginarydiocese.org\/bishopjohn\/?p=14689"},"modified":"2014-02-11T15:28:11","modified_gmt":"2014-02-11T04:28:11","slug":"suicide-prevention-with-a-terminal-patient","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/imaginarydiocese.org\/bishopjohn\/2014\/02\/11\/suicide-prevention-with-a-terminal-patient\/","title":{"rendered":"Suicide prevention with a terminal patient?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Dr\u00a0Toffler’s letter to the House Judiciary Committee regarding the New Hampshire, USA, Assisted Suicide Bill HB 1325:
\n<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Dear Members of the Committee:<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

I am a doctor in Oregon where assisted suicide is legal. As a
\nprofessor of Family Medicine and practicing physician in Oregon for
\nover 30 years, I write to urge you to not make Oregon’s mistake and
\nvote No on HB 1325.<\/p>\n

I understand that there was a question during your recent hearing
\nregarding the appropriateness of suicide prevention with a terminal
\npatient. Terminal patients, like other patients, will sometimes
\nexpress suicidal desires and ideation. Terminal patients, like other
\npatients do not necessarily mean it and may even want you to say
\n“no.” They may also be clinically depressed, i.e., colloquially not
\nin their “right minds.” With this situation, suicide prevention is
\nnot only appropriate, but necessary to provide good medical care and
\nto avoid discrimination based on the patient’s quality of life as
\nperceived by the doctor.<\/p>\n

In my practice, I have had well over twenty patients ask me about
\nparticipating in their suicides or giving them information about
\nassisted suicide. In every case I have explored the issues behind
\ntheir request, and then assured them that I will provide their
\nmedical care to the best of my ability. At the same time, I also
\nstrive to reflect and convey their inherent worth and my inability to
\ncollude with their request to help end their life. I remember one
\ncase in particular, the man’s response was “Thank you.”<\/p>\n

To read more about that case and some of my other cases in Oregon,
\nplease read my statement to the BBC, since re-titled as “What do
\nPeople Mean When They Say they Want to\u00a0 Die?”
\n<http:\/\/www.choiceillusion.org\/p\/what-people-mean_25.html<\/span><\/span><\/a>><\/span>http:\/\/www.choiceillusion.org\/p\/what-people-mean_25.html<\/span><\/span><\/a>
\n
\nPlease vote No on HB 1325,<\/span><\/p>\n

Thank you,<\/p>\n

William L. Toffler MD
\nProfessor of Family Medicine<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

See further submission, http:\/\/www.prweb.com\/releases\/2014\/02\/prweb11551523.htm<\/a> <\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Dr\u00a0Toffler’s letter to the House Judiciary Committee regarding the New Hampshire, USA, Assisted Suicide Bill HB 1325: Dear Members of the Committee: I am a doctor in Oregon where assisted suicide is legal. As a professor of Family Medicine and … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[5],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/imaginarydiocese.org\/bishopjohn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14689"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/imaginarydiocese.org\/bishopjohn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/imaginarydiocese.org\/bishopjohn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/imaginarydiocese.org\/bishopjohn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/imaginarydiocese.org\/bishopjohn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14689"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"http:\/\/imaginarydiocese.org\/bishopjohn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14689\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14698,"href":"http:\/\/imaginarydiocese.org\/bishopjohn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14689\/revisions\/14698"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/imaginarydiocese.org\/bishopjohn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14689"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/imaginarydiocese.org\/bishopjohn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14689"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/imaginarydiocese.org\/bishopjohn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14689"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}