John Yang:
New York has become the 13th state, along with Washington, D.C., to legalize medically assisted suicide. More than a dozen other states are also considering legalizing the practice, what supporters call medical aid in dying.
Stephanie Sy traveled to both coasts to reexamine an issue that for decades has divided Americans along moral and political lines.
Del Delashmutt, Portland, Oregon, Resident:
I have a brain tumor in my right frontal lobe.
Stephanie Sy:
Del Delashmutt envisions a celebration for the day he dies.
Del Delashmutt:
We’re going to have a fire going that day. I have my little guitar over there and pick it up and strum it a little bit. My sister’s going to be here. My son’s going to be here. There will be people here. And I don’t want it to be a sad day. I just want it to be a day, you know?
Stephanie Sy:
The Portland, Oregon, resident says he’s planning to take a lethal dose of medication on April 1.
Why did you choose April 1?
Del Delashmutt:
April 1. No greater fool am I, says I. So I thought that would be perfect.
Stephanie Sy:
He was diagnosed with stage four prostate cancer in 2017. Now 67 years old, he’s undergone near constant chemotherapy and more than 50 radiation treatments. He had a compelling reason to fight.
Del Delashmutt:
I have a granddaughter. And she was 3 at the time.
Stephanie Sy:
And you have had almost a decade with her.
Del Delashmutt:
Yes. And I see her every Wednesday. So — and I have since she was 3 months old.
Stephanie Sy:
But tumors have now spread to his brain and spine. And he’s worried they will lead to a grueling death.
Del Delashmutt:
It’s funny. Everybody says, you’re so brave. And it’s like, no, I’m being — I’m not brave, because, if I was brave, I would die painfully. So I would rather not die painfully.
Stephanie Sy:
DeLashmutt meets the requirements of Oregon’s death with dignity law. Since 1997, the option has been available to adults who have a medical prognosis of six months or less to live from at least two doctors and are deemed mentally competent. They must also be able to take the drugs themselves.
Dr. Charles Blanke, Oregon Health and Science University: Remember, there’s no pressure to ever take the medication. Totally your choice.
Stephanie Sy:
Dr. Charles Blanke wrote the prescription for DeLashmutt. Blanke was one of the first physicians in the U.S. to practice medical aid in dying. An oncologist by training, he says demand has grown.
Dr. Charles Blanke:
More and more of my patients seem to want this option. And I probably write between 100 and 150 prescriptions per year.
Stephanie Sy:
Acceptance for legalizing what’s also known as medically assisted suicide has been rising steadily in the U.S. Polling in recent years has shown that more than 70 percent of Americans support it.
Anita Hannig, Author, “The Day I Die: The Untold Story of Assisted Dying in America”: The idea of authoring the end of your own life is becoming less and less taboo.
Stephanie Sy:
Anita Hannig is a cultural anthropologist and the author of “The Day I Die: The Untold Story of Assisted Dying in America.”
Anita Hannig:
Medical aid in dying is actually increasingly being seen as a medical treatment that some — and we’re talking about a very small subset of the population — choose to avail themselves of when they reach the end of their life and they have a terminal condition.
Stephanie Sy:
Since Oregon became the first state to allow assisted dying nearly 30 years ago, 12 more states and Washington, D.C., have passed similar laws. Roughly 13,000 Americans have used medical aid in dying, according to a nonprofit that tracks this data.
Gov. Kathy Hochul (D-NY):
Who am I to deny you or your loved one what they’re begging for at the end of their life?
Stephanie Sy:
New York just approved legalization last month, reigniting opposition from longtime opponents, including the Catholic Church.
Father Peter Clark, St. Joseph’s University:
So, since the beginning of Christianity, it was very clear that God gives life, only God can take life away.
Stephanie Sy:
Father Peter Clark is the director of the Institute of Clinical Bioethics at St. Joseph’s University in Philadelphia. He says even the phrase medical aid in dying is misleading.
Father Peter Clark:
You’re committing suicide. Medical aid in dying sounds very different. It sounds like the doctors are helping you in the last stages of death and dying, but the help is intentionally terminating you. So, I mean, you can play semantics all you want. It’s still the same thing.
Stephanie Sy:
But Clark says the Catholic Church is not against taking someone off of a ventilator or removing a pacemaker, and he believes more options could be offered to make patients suffer less at the end of life.
Daniese McMullin-Powell, Disability Rights Advocate:
People are going to die needlessly.
Stephanie Sy:
It’s a perspective that 80-year-old Delaware resident and disability rights advocate Daniese McMullin-Powell shares.
Daniese McMullin-Powell:
I am shocked society is so accepting of this, and their assumption of what suffering is by offering you death, instead of better health care, instead of a better life.
Stephanie Sy:
McMullin-Powell had polio as a child, which has left her with long-term disabilities. She’s joined a lawsuit against the state of Delaware, which passed a medical aid in dying law last year.
Among other concerns, she fears that people with disabilities will cut their lives short to spare their families the expense of their care.
Daniese McMullin-Powell:
For them to have that option puts pressure on people with disabilities and makes us feel an obligation to die.
Stephanie Sy:
Opponents of assisted dying also often point to other countries as a warning, including Canada, where next year people whose sole underlying condition is a mental health disorder will become eligible.
Father Peter Clark:
There’s a slippery slope. I mean, if you allow for this, what comes next? I mean, look at the Netherlands. Look at Luxembourg. Look at Belgium. Look at Switzerland. They now allow people who are mentally ill to do this.
Stephanie Sy:
Oregon has had these laws in place for decades and they have not gone down the slippery slope.
Father Peter Clark:
Correct, because — but that’s not to say we can’t. So, I mean, it may not have happened in Oregon, but it’s — our closest neighbor, Canada, is allowing for it. The church is very concerned that could come next here.
Stephanie Sy:
Researcher Anita Hannig doesn’t see the U.S. going down that road.
Anita Hannig:
Among all the jurisdictions that have legalized assisted dying, the U.S. model is actually the most restrictive. And the gains that have been made in this country are hard-won. And, today, I would say very few advocates of these laws are willing to push the envelope on them, for fear of losing them altogether.
Dr. Charles Blanke:
There have been a whole host of reasons put forward by opponents to death with dignity. They believe that this is harming the patient. I feel the situation is the opposite.
Stephanie Sy:
Dr. Charles Blanke says he sees people suffering in ways that can’t be relieved.
Dr. Charles Blanke:
What my patients want, for the most part, is control. They cannot control their life at all. They can’t control their cancer. But I can, because of these drugs, offer them essentially 100 percent control over their death, pretty much when and certainly how. And I can say that it’s going to happen without suffering.
Stephanie Sy:
When we met Del Delashmutt, he was preparing to pick up his prescription and trying to make the most of the time he has left. He took one last trip to the beach on Oregon’s coast, wrote love letters to the people he will leave behind.
Del Delashmutt:
“And we had so much fun. We did.”
Stephanie Sy:
And pulled out old photos.
Are you scared?
Del Delashmutt:
There’s a part of me that’s scared. But there’s a part of me that something profound is going to happen to me on April 1.
Stephanie Sy:
Is there anything that would change your mind at this point?
Del Delashmutt:
No, no, because I want to go as me, the guy that can smile and laugh and joke a little bit, rather than be a pile of pain, whereas, this way, there’s a good chance that I may be having a good day.
(Laughter)
Del Delashmutt:
And they can see me like that.
For the “PBS News Hour,” I’m Stephanie Sy.