I am adamantly opposed to this legislation and any attempts
by government to authorize any form of assisted suicide. Suicide is wrong,
especially when it is assisted by loved ones or physicians. Humans are given
the gift of life. People like me who hold strong convictions in their faith
believe that it is not our duty, or within our ability, to control the
beginning or end of our life. With this legislation individuals will decide
when their lives end, and they will be protected to have their loved ones assist
in ending that life. As a faithful Catholic, I do not feel comfortable granting
that authority to anyone. Life is the most basic gift of a loving God, to which
humans have stewardship, not absolute dominion. No one, including the
government, should ever intend to cause their own death or assist in the taking
of another’s. I fear that with this legislation we are legitimizing suicide – a
very dangerous precedent.
I am very concerned about the negative impacts this
legislation would have on some of society’s most vulnerable populations - the
elderly and the disabled. I am worried that this legislation will open the door
for abuse of the elderly and disabled by allowing those around them to
influence their decision to commit suicide for their own gain. This proposal
has no safeguard for abuse, and there is a lack of appropriate monitoring of
the mental capacity of those who will receive the lethal dose. Furthermore,
there is no way of knowing when the lethal dose is administered or if it was
done so voluntarily. With a lack of safeguards in place there is no way to know
if suicide is what the person truly desired or if it is a priority of those
around them.
In states where assisted suicide has been approved suicide
rates have increased. Thirteen years after assisted suicide passed in Oregon,
the suicide rate was 41% higher than the national average.
I am concerned that the same will happen in Connecticut. The
Legislature should not create the culture of death that will surely come with
this proposal. As elected officials and public servants we should be fostering
a culture that supports those who are fighting death, whether they are elderly
or sick. We should encourage them to fight with strength of character and to
live the life that they have been blessed to have fully, to the very last
breathe. We should not be encouraging them to give up and a way to tamper with
their own fate.
I strongly urge you to contact your legislators and ask them to oppose House Bill 6645, An Act Concerning Compassionate Aid in Dying for Terminally Ill Patients.
