Dear Assemblymembers:
My husband and I recently moved from Vermont because we fear growing old in a state with legal assisted suicide.
Vermont offers a case study of assisted suicide’s effects. True Dignity Vermont, an advocacy group working for repeal of assisted suicide, recently reported that nursing home staff had approached a healthy 90 year old, in the home for rehab after a fall, to tell her about her “right” to assisted suicide. Her adult daughter noticed that her mother was upset and uncomfortable, but only found out what had happened after her mother was moved to another facility, where she went to pieces when the staff innocently tried to talk to her about her end of life wishes.
My husband and I envy the 90 year old her supportive family, which got her out of a situation in which she felt traumatizing pressure. Not everyone has family members to protect them. For us and many others, legal assisted suicide is a mortal danger.
With the exception of Vermont, legislators in every state, after hearing the evidence, have refused to legalize assisted suicide. See here: http://www.choiceillusion.org/2015/08/most-states-have-rejected-assisted.html
We urge you to do the same.
Sincerely,
Carolyn and Gerald McMurray
Long Beach,
