2019 in Review – Thank you for all of your help!
As 2019 draws to a close, we want to thank all of our coalition members who dedicated their time and talents to defeat physician-assisted suicide (PAS) in Maryland.
Year after year in Maryland, we have consistently seen a bill proposed that fails to address any of the concerns raised in legislative hearings and in various media outlets. Our coalition has continued to highlight issues with the bill language that would pose a significant risk of coercion to our most vulnerable populations, including the elderly and the disabled. We have continued to cite medical experts who say that a doctor cannot accurately predict an end of life prognosis. In addition, the mental health of patients who want to end their life through PAS has never been a priority for the proponents. Moreover, in a time when overall suicide rates continue to climb and studies show that PAS can lead to a suicide contagion, the proponents continue to ignore this risk. The bottom line is that the bill has always contained countless flaws, most of which cannot be “fixed” legislatively, and the risks to society’s most vulnerable far outweigh any perceived “benefits”.
2019 marked the fourth time this coalition has come together to successfully defeat legislation that would have legalized PAS in Maryland. In May the bill was defeated, demonstrating what we have known all along: there is no more effective way to influence legislation than to contact your legislators directly. And that is exactly what you did! Together we showed that, even though this is an extremely controversial issue, when legislators really learn about the details of the proposal from their constituents, especially about its lack of safeguards for our most vulnerable residents, they see that it should not pass.
Thank you all for your hard work to defeat the bill! This result would not have been possible without you and we look forward to continuing our important work together.
Sincerely,
– Maryland Against Physician Assisted Suicide