The City of Tucson has joined the “death with dignity” movement, and is asking the Arizona Legislature to craft a state law that will allow terminally ill adults to decide when and how they will die.
In a “memorial” the council members unanimously passed Tuesday night, they ask lawmakers to consider enacting a statute similar to Oregon’s Death with Dignity Act, and allow for terminally ill adults in Arizona to request for prescription medication that will end their lives in “a humane and dignified way.”
The document will be presented to the state Senate president and the state House speaker as soon as possible.
“I want to commend you for your compassion in leadership in [supporting] the aid in dying, also known as death with dignity, memorial. You are not only leading the state in this but you are also helping to lead the country,” Sharon Rock told the council tonight. She is one of the Bisbee residents behind an aid in dying ordinance Bisbee passed in September. The city was the first municipality in Arizona to officially get on board with the movement, but Tucson is the largest city in the state to recognize it.
The memorial says “death with dignity” should not be categorized as manslaughter, or other similar crimes.
A May 2015 Gallup poll says nearly 70 percent of Americans are OK with “death with dignity” laws.
This article appears in Dec 10-16, 2015.
Let’s hope it passes…Bisbee, AZ has already done so
ENOUGH with the political BS. Tucson First.. Let THOSE people who are rich/white do this kinda stuff.. There aint ONE poor person who is saying “finally” I can die with dignity.. their saying How will I pay for food, rent, etc..because the City Council aint helping with that, are they?
Speakin Up. You need to be more clear on your thought process. For one, what is “this kinda stuff?” I am not rich, but I cannot pay my bills, and I watched my father suffer needlessly because he had Alzheimer’s and fell multiple times. He also lost his mind and couldn’t speak or walk much less eat at the end. Get your facts straight before you make BS comments. Diseases like Alzheimer’s attack the rich and the poor. My dad was reduced to a mere lifeless body without a mind, and death would have been a blessing at that point.
I hope so much that Arizona will be compassionate to pass a law supporting this but it should be in all States. As a lung cancer patient, and after watching my Mom die of lung cancer, I don’t want to suffer at the end. It was horrible.
Beware of false advertising, bait and switch. Oregon model laws do not assure choice, control of the individual but only assures the control of predatory heirs and enables predatory corporations. A sample of some of the loopholes and more work with each other to eviscerate intended safeguards.
By all these OR model laws all family members are not required to be contacted, hold that thought. A single predatory heir is allowed to steer the sign up and then execute the lethal process without a witness.
A witness is not required to confirm that the dose was so called “self administered” (you remember this was one of their lead selling points).
Even as the law provides immunity for all involved and demands the falsification of the death certificate (impossible to track trends for good public policy) it actually prohibits a public inquiry of any kind (remember the family members who were not contacted, no recourse for them). A straight up murder for money can slide right through. It is Dangerous public policy. As if that is not enough, in 2015 they added another black hole to the bogus signup process with “someone who claims to know how you communicate may speak for you throughout the lethal process, no other qualifiers”. Then they often flaunt that 2 doctors are required and then specify that the first doctor may waive the second.
These loopholes and more are in the OR, WA, and CA’s laws and expand the scope of exploitation by predators and predatory corporations for windfall profits.
There is no evidence that corporations and heirs, predatory or otherwise, are offing old people in Oregon due to these laws. What a fantastic imagination.
People should be able to choose to end their life. I can’t imagine any more basic right.
Absolutely correct, humane and fair.
The entire city of Tucson? No, just a few government rulers. And the Gallup poll you mentioned did not ask the right questions. Google it!
Ask these council members if they are healthy. Ask if they are elderly. Ask if they are disabled. In other words are they in any way members of a vulnerable class who will be offered death rather than expensive medical treatments? I doubt it.