Our executive director, Lisa Vigil Schattinger, read a piece in the Cleveland Plain Dealer last week and knew immediately that she needed to respond. Her Letter to the Editor was published on Cleveland.com and in the digital/print edition on November 27, 2021. If you see articles like the one prompting this, please add your voice by responding to it.
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The following is Lisa Vigil Schattinger’s letter. Click here to view the article at Cleveland.com and share your voice by commenting with your support.
Consider U.S. Models for Medical Aid in Dying, Not Canada’s
Regarding Charles Lane’s Nov. 19 commentary on medical aid in dying proposals in Canada, a country and health care system very different than our own (”The slope gets slipperier as Canada expands euthanasia”), it is more useful to focus on laws that are actually working in nine U.S. states and the District of Columbia.
These laws allow mentally capable people with a terminal diagnosis to request a prescription that will hasten their death. In these states, individuals draw comfort from having medication that enables them to die peacefully if and when they feel their suffering is unbearable, whether they use it or not. Almost seven out of ten Ohioans surveyed in 2018 supported medical aid in dying.
Those who oppose this are under no obligation to ask for it, and health care providers may opt-out. But speculation, scare tactics, and differences of opinion should not prevent access to freedom to decide for ourselves.
Lisa Vigil Schattinger,
Shaker Heights
Lisa Vigil Schattinger is the executive director of Ohio End of Life Options.
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