Editor’s note: This op-ed is by Rep. Patsy French, a Democrat from Randolph.
Dick Mallary and I shared a number of beliefs. He believed, and I continue to believe, that representing our constituents in the Vermont Legislature is both an honor and a serious responsibility. He believed strongly, and I continue to believe strongly, that proposed death with dignity legislation should become law in Vermont. During the death with dignity debate several years ago, Dick and his wife went on television saying they hoped the bill would be passed in time for them and other Vermonters. Sadly, it was not. Dick, living with terminal, metastasized prostate cancer, did not have the options which the death with dignity bill he supported would have allowed. He died last September.
In early 2011, Dick Mallary appeared at the Statehouse with other Vermont leaders to urge passage of death with dignity legislation. He argued that this was not a Republican or Democratic issue but an issue of freedom and individual choice. He also argued that with more than a decade of data from Oregon (the first state to pass a death with dignity law 15 years ago), the fears of some in the disability community were unfounded. Some had expressed fear that this law would endanger the lives of individuals who have disabilities. I strongly agree with Rep. Mallary that there is no evidence to support the concerns of some of my friends in the disability community.
In 2007 my committee heard compelling personal testimony from former Oregon Gov. Barbara Roberts, who earned her political stripes as a disability rights advocate for 40 years and whose husband used a wheelchair and whose son has autism. She came to Vermont to testify on the Oregon experience and in support of the Vermont bill. She stated emphatically that she “would never support any law that would be harmful to persons with disabilities.” I have an adult son who has significant disabilities, and I also would never support a law that would be harmful to individuals with disabilities. If my son were to have a terminal illness, I would want him to have the legal option of using medication to end his life, but the choice of whether or not to use the law would be entirely his, just as it would be for any other “mentally competent” adult Vermonter with a terminal illness.
Gov. Roberts also reported that in Oregon there was no evidence of coercion or pressure under this law, as predicted by the opposition to death with dignity legislation. In fact, no one with a short- or long-term but non-terminal disability has died with physician assistance in Oregon. The vast majority of the people who have used physicians’ prescriptions to peacefully shorten their lives had terminal end-stage cancer.
Since then, the director of the Oregon Advocacy Center (OAC), which is federally mandated to investigate complaints of abuse or neglect of individuals with disabilities including inappropriate actions taken to hasten the death of an individual, attested to the following: “OAC has never received a complaint that a person with disabilities was coerced to make use of the Dignity Act. I am not aware of any data that suggests that Oregonians with disabilities that are not related to a terminal illness have made use of the Dignity Act.” The initial opposition from the disability community in Oregon has now gone silent after having lived with Oregon’s law for many years.
I know that I am not alone as someone who has a special interest in disability rights in my support of this legislation. When Vermonters were asked this year by the respected pollster Zogby International the following question: Would you support or oppose legislation to give a mentally competent adult, dying of a terminal disease with a prognosis of less than 6 months to live, the right to request and take medication to peacefully hasten death? Sixty-four percent of Vermont households said support. Twenty-six percent said oppose.
Among households in which a person with a disability resided, the response was comparable with 62 percent in favor and 27 percent opposed.
Death with dignity did not pass in time for Dick Mallary. I would urge that Vermonters move beyond undocumented fears, learn from states that now allow their citizens choices at end of life, and make the enactment of death with dignity a tribute to Dick Mallary’s life.
