CHARLESTON, W.Va. (WSAZ) - The way you choose to deal with a terminal illness is on the ballot in West Virginia.
Lawmakers, in March proposed a state constitutional amendment to prohibit medically assisted suicide, also referred to as medical aid in dying and death with dignity.
WSAZ found assisted suicide is already against West Virginia law. So the station we reached out to a sponsor of the legislation, Kanawha County Del. Chris Pritt [pictured here].
“With a law already on the books that prohibits this, why pass an amendment?” asked WSAZ reporter Curtis Johnson.
“Things can happen at the drop of dime in any given legislative session, and what this does is it makes sure that we, to the extent that any laws would be attempted to be passed, this would put a brake on it,” Pritt replied.
The question appears as Amendment One on your ballot. It asks voters whether they are for or against the stated purpose, “to protect West Virginians against medically assisted suicide.”
However, the resolution passed by lawmakers in March gives much more detail, explaining the constitution would be amended to say,
“no person, physician, or health care provider in the State of West Virginia shall participate in the practice of medically assisted suicide, euthanasia, or mercy killing of a person.”
“I think that your end-of-life care is some of the most personal decisions you could possibly make,” said Rusty Williams, interim advocacy director for ACLU West Virginia.
Williams said they oppose the amendment.
“Most folks agree that, ‘Mountaineers are always free,’” he told WSAZ. “That’s something that we take very seriously, and enshrining a prohibition on the last free choice a Mountaineer can make -- it’s just the wrong way to go.”
To Pritt, the amendment is part of the larger, pro-life movement versus any pressures one may receive to consider an assisted suicide.
“We support protecting life from conception to natural death, and this is a part of it,” Pritt told Johnson. “We want to make sure that the most vulnerable individuals are protected.”
“Those vulnerable people that you’re seeking to protect -- do they face any threat of this right now?” Johnson asked.
“They don’t face an immediate threat, but what this does is it ensures that going into the future those individuals will continue to be protected,” Pritt answered.
“Why spend resources to do this, if there is no threat?” Johnson asked.
“Well, a primary, important function of government is to protect life,” he replied. “One of the things that we should be doing as a legislative body, and as a people across West Virginia, is putting resources into protecting life.”
The resolution passed by lawmakers says the amendment, if passed, would still allow patients and their families to choose hospice care and to end life sustaining treatment.
“If you have family members or you yourself need treatment, you’re in hospice care, you need to be alleviated from pain, it’s not going to impact that whatsoever,” Pritt said.
If passed, both sides tell WSAZ, West Virginia would become the first state in the nation with a constitutional amendment that prohibits medically assisted suicide.
Otherwise, currently 10 states and the District of Columbia allow for medically assisted suicide, also known as death with dignity.
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