Disabled community fears impact of medically assisted deaths

Mar. 24—Leaders of the Fredericksburg disAbility Resource Center — longtime advocates for those with physical and intellectual impairments — want to add their voices to the ongoing discussions about medically assisted deaths.

Director Debra Fults and Deputy Director Seth Whitten fear legislation that would allow those with terminal illnesses to get drugs from doctors to end their lives could lead to a "slippery slope" that eventually might impact society's most vulnerable residents.

"The concern is that you start with terminal illness, but how do you know it stays there?" asked Whitten, who said he's been frustrated by attempts to express concerns, "especially from the disability rights movement that had to fight so hard just to get a voice, just to be able to get curb cuts and lifts on buses. It's troubling to us."

The issue is complex and complicated. Proponents who say they want to ease the pain and suffering of those with terminal diseases call the movement medical aid in dying or dying with dignity. Those who oppose the action tend to refer to it as physician-assisted suicide or even euthanasia.

The measure is legal in Washington, D.C., and 10 states: California, Colorado, Hawaii, Maine, Montana, New Jersey, New Mexico, Oregon, Vermont and Washington.

It's not currently allowed in Virginia, by any name, but is building momentum, according to the Death with Dignity website at deathwithdignity.org/states/virginia/.

"Virginia made history in 2024 by pushing a Death with Dignity bill further than ever before," according to the website which praised chief sponsor, Sen. Ghazala Hashmi (D-Chesterfield), and Congresswoman Jennifer Wexton.

The bill passed the Senate by a vote of 21-19 and was continued until the 2025 legislative session by the House of Delegates.

While Whitten, a former legislative aide in the Alaska legislature, acknowledged the proposed legislation isn't "attacking the disability community," he and Fults fear backers may not realize possible consequences.

"I don't think they're considering people with disabilities and how vulnerable they are of being coerced and helped along with a decision they may not make on their own," Fults added.

"That's exactly right," Whitten said.

But Hashmi, a legislative member of the Virginia Disability Commission, said on Friday that she would not carry the legislation if she had fears it "would open doors for the coercion or abuse of disabled individuals."

She stressed that if the legislation becomes law, "it will allow only those who are in the final stages of dying to control their own suffering and to control their final moments of life."

"A disability is not a terminal illness. Depression is not a terminal illness," said the senator who's chair of the Senate Education and Health Committee.

In addition, she said there are more than a dozen safeguards to ensure the medical assistance is used only in specific situations.

Safeguards spell out the steps to be taken for those 18 and older, including two verbal requests from a patient to an attending physician, 15 days apart, followed by a written request; the formal diagnosis of a terminal illness; the determination that a patient is capable of making the decision without influence from outside sources; and an explanation of what the decision entails.

Whitten worries that those safeguards won't be enforced. He cites a report posted on the Journal of Medical Ethics website by writer David Jones who reviewed 25 years of data from Oregon, the first state to allow medically assisted death in 1997.

The report cited the increase of those who died with medical assistance, from 16 people in 1998 to 278 in 2022. Initially, almost one-third of those who sought the measure were referred for psychiatric evaluation, but the rate fell from 31% in 1998 to 1.1% in 2022.

The report also showed shifts in the reasons given for seeking assisted death. Instead of pain and suffering as the primary causes, people in 2022 cited financial concerns, the fear of being a burden or the loss of autonomy.

"As the disability rights community ... we fought for a long time to say it's not undignified to need somebody to help you with your personal care, to help you go to the toilet or to help you bathe," Whitten said. "These are the everyday experiences of millions of Americans, right?"

He and Fults both fear a shift in the "cultural landscape" that could decrease the value of human life, an issue that's already of particular concern among the disability community.

"Because of the way our society views disability and the way people with disabilities have internalized this notion that your life isn't as valuable, you're a burden, this can lead people to say I'm gonna make that choice to die," Whitten said. "While, sure, it's their choice, again it's this cultural landscape that's saying you guys aren't worth as much as other people."

Fults pointed to movies, including "Million Dollar Baby," that suggest that able-bodied people who suffer serious injuries have only one choice left to them: assisted suicide.

"It gave the impression that those with a disability are better off dead," she said.

Cathy Dyson: 540/374-5425

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