Washington is just one of six states that has enacted a Death with Dignity law, the statute that allows physicians to prescribe life-ending medications to terminally ill patients. It’s not a procedure that’s often used: Virginia Mason oncologist Thomas Malpass told me that Washington voters approved the Death with Dignity Act in 2008, but few of his terminal patients have even inquired about it, and less than one percent have actually gone through with it. Even for those who are interested, it’s not easy: The law requires that two physicians agree that the patient has less than six months to live, which means those suffering from terminal illnesses like Parkinson’s Disease, or heart or lung disease are usually ineligible: It’s just too hard to predict when they’re going to die. In some situations, a psychiatrist may be called in to determine that the patient is mentally competent, and insurance rarely covers the cost. There are protections in place to make sure no one is forced into this option against their will. It’s a good law, according to Dr. Malpass, and one that helps his patients.
Donald Trump’s Supreme Court nominee, however, disagrees. Judge Neil Gorsuch, who will presumably take the vacant seat left by Antonin Scalia, is an opponent of medically-assisted death, which he referred in his 2006 book on the topic as “consensual homicide.” The book, The Future of Assisted Suicide and Euthanasia, looks more like a self-published beach read than a legal treatise, arguing that “human life is intrinsically valuable” and that “intentional killing is always wrong.” (Let that sink in for a moment and ponder the implications for Roe v. Wade.)
Gorsuch is not, it should be noted, a doctor, or for that matter, a cancer patient (yet). But his stance is perhaps unsurprising considering that his party ceases caring about the quality of life as soon as a person is outside of the womb. The implications for sick people, however, could be significant if any challenges to right-to-die laws reach the Supreme Court. Oregon’s Death with Dignity law has been challenged twice since 1998. Both times, it was upheld by the Supreme Court. But that could change with Gorsuch on the bench, says Kevin Diaz, an attorney for advocacy group Compassion & Choices. “If Judge Gorsuch sits on the high court,” he said in a statement, “we could imagine a Supreme Court decision that prevents meaningful access to medical aid in dying nationwide.” In other words: It’s fucked.
The people this will most hurt, of course, are the sickest — but as we’ve seen from their attempts to dismantle the Affordable Care Act, Republicans only care about the sick while they are in utero. Meanwhile, living, breathing, suffering humans may be forced to take measures into their own hands.
“It’s very unusual to have a cancer patient end their life with a gun to the head,” said Dr. Malpass, adding that he’s only seen it once in his 35 years in practice. But, he said, “if this law went away, it might happen a little more frequently.” The upside is: with Trump in office, at least getting a gun should be easy.
