Discarding the Euphemisms that Surround Assisted Suicide

By Dave Andrusko

There are so many important stories that inevitably I get behind in bringing you news of a relevant development.

We’ve written a great many stories on assisted suicide, both in the United States and around the world. I had meant to talk about a “My Turn” piece that appeared last week in the Burlington Free Press.

The topic of Grace Weber’s opinion piece was “Assisted suicide bad idea, bad bill.” Her opening sentence nicely summarizes the core of her argument: “When we discard the euphemism ‘death with dignity’ and replace it with plain English, we see that the Vermont Legislature proposes to endorse and enable suicide for qualifying citizens. The idea is bad, and the bill [H. 274] is bad.”

But in the interim I had occasion to ask a friend from Vermont about the situation there and she referred me to an outstanding site: “True Dignity Vermont: Vermont Citizens Against Assisted Suicide”.  They describe themselves as “a grassroots, independent, citizen-led initiative in opposition to assisted suicide in Vermont.”

One of the best qualities about the site is that it reprints excellent articles and letters to the editor. As time and space permits, I’ll be reprinting some of the best here.

Which starts with Part Four today: “It is the disabled and poor who will eventually feel pressured to use assisted suicide.”

I would very much appreciate your feedback. It is very important. Please send your comments to daveandrusko@gmail.com. If you like, join those who are following me on Twitter at http://twitter.com/daveha

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