Posted on: Saturday, February 5, 2005

EDITORIAL
Assisted suicide gets hearing at Capitol

It's encouraging to hear that the hotly debated matter of physician-assisted suicide remains on Hawai'i's legislative radar screen.

The House Health Committee today will hear a bill that would allow Hawai'i physicians to prescribe lethal doses of medication to mentally competent, terminally ill adults who seek control over when to end their lives.

House Bill 1454 would prohibit mercy killings, lethal injections and active euthanasia. It would also allow the patient to seek a prescription from an alternate doctor if the attending doctor declines to prescribe.

While surely the issue deserves much debate, it appears unlikely that it has the support to move out of committee.

If the bill is indeed dead in the water — as key lawmakers have suggested — and does not clear today's hearing, it may be best not to drag out the debate through this session or give its supporters' false hope.

Whatever the fate of Hawai'i's fifth "Death with Dignity" bill since 1998, we would expect lawmakers to take seriously the concerns of the elderly and terminally ill and advance measures to improve palliative care.

With improved palliative care and other avenues that help the terminally ill, perhaps fewer would choose physician-assisted suicide as the only way to end their suffering and anxiety. And perhaps soon we will able to muster the political will to make physician-assisted suicide available to those who have exhausted all other avenues.