NH End of Life Act opponents push against 'normalizing' suicide: Here are their concerns

CONCORD — Opponents of medical aid in dying are pushing back against the End of Life Option Act in New Hampshire, stating it could "normalize suicide" and put people with disabilities at risk.

House Bill 1283, which will be heard in the House on Wednesday, would provide the option for terminally ill people with less than six months to live to receive medical aid in dying. Proponents have said the law could save people from suffering painful deaths.

Opponents of the bill, who spoke during a press conference Monday organized by the New Hampshire Coalition for Suicide Prevention, are raising concerns.

End of Life Act seen as a 'slippery slope' by some

The End of Life Options Act currently includes specific criteria to qualify for medical aid in dying: patients must be at least 18, have a terminal medical condition, have less than six months left to live, be mentally able to make an informed decision, and be physically able to self-administer the medicine.

But Steven Wade, executive director of the New Hampshire Brain Injury Association, believes the bill would enable the removal of safeguards down the road. He pointed to bills in other states that have eliminated waiting periods, expanded the definition of terminal illness, and removed state residency requirements. Vermont, for example, now allows people from out of state to receive medical aid in dying.

"We feel it would really weaken all the good work that's been going on on state suicide prevention efforts. Essentially it medicalizes suicide," Wade said of the bill. "We feel that it opens the door to expanding to many other vulnerable populations."

Lisa Beaudoin, founder of Strategies for Disability Equity, and Jules Good, a New Hampshire-based disability justice organizer, said the bill would put people with disabilities in danger. Beaudoin pointed to California, where an End of Life Options Act has been in place since 2016. Last year, a group of people with disabilities sued over the law, saying the system too quickly offers them death instead of care.

Good said biases about people with disabilities lead to them often not being given the same amount of care as someone without disabilities and, without care, a non-terminal condition can quickly become a terminal one.

“A lot of the pushback that we got when we talked about opposing this bill is, 'Well, you're being overdramatic because this bill is not meant to apply to every disabled person. It's only meant to apply to people who have a six month or less prognosis,'” Good said. “It is easier than you think for someone to be denied care in this country.”

Good doesn’t think the safeguards written into the law will be enough to prevent coercion, especially to the most vulnerable populations in New Hampshire.

Alternative options to medical aid in dying

Opponents of the bill advocated for palliative care, or care that focuses on providing relief, over medical aid in dying.

Dr. Jonathan Eddinger, who is the president of the New Hampshire Board of Medicine but said that he was not in attendance in that capacity, thinks the priority should be to give physicians more training and funding for palliative care.

“Both sides of this coin are really coming at it from the same perspective. We want to minimize suffering and minimize pain at the end of life,” Eddinger said. “As we get better training and palliation then the need for this medication, this suicidal option, this therapy that's based in killing and not in caring, the need for that will diminish and it should be nonexistent.”

Eddinger said patients already have an active role to play in their dying process. He said they can choose a do not resuscitate order, they can stop eating and drinking, and they can choose to not continue therapies.

If legalized, Eddinger said, medical aid in dying would become the cheapest option in end-of-life care. That makes him fear insurance companies would push for this decision.

“It really opens the door to abuse and it opens the door to disincentivizing families and patients to choose the palliation option rather than the pill option,” he said.

Eddinger also thinks that this law would end the needed discussion on how to create higher quality end-of-life care and make it available to more people.

Good said they empathize with those in pain, but that it's important to look at the bigger picture.

“We have to do better not just for people who are in pain right now, but for many, many years to come,” Good said. “A law like this does not help us in the long run. It puts us in danger.”

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This article originally appeared on Portsmouth Herald: NH End of Life Act opponents fear it would 'normalize suicide'