profession
State rejects assisted-suicide measure
NEWS IN BRIEF — Posted Nov. 19, 2012
The defeat of a ballot initiative to allow physician-assisted suicide in Massachusetts brings an end to months of intense campaigning from proponents and opponents.
The measure was struck down in a narrow vote Nov. 6. It would have laid out rules by which physicians could prescribe lethal medication to terminally ill patients. Had it passed, Massachusetts would have been the third state to enact a law allowing physician-assisted suicide, after Oregon and Washington. The Massachusetts Medical Society said the measure was incompatible with physicians’ core duty.
“We are pleased that the majority of voters agree that a physician’s role is to heal and comfort, not to aid in death,” said MMS President Richard Aghababian, MD.
But proponents said they will continue their fight to legalize physician-assisted suicide in the state.
“The voters of Massachusetts have delivered a clear call to action that will continue and grow until the terminally ill have the right to end their suffering,” Michael Clarke, campaign director of Dignity 2012, the state’s Death with Dignity campaign, said in a statement.
Note: This item originally appeared at http://www.ama-assn.org/amednews/2012/11/19/prbf1119.htm.
