Euthanasia Hotspots

Wim Distelmans, an oncologist and a professor of palliative medicine at the Free University of Brussels, is known as one of the leading proponents of a 2002 law in Belgium that permits euthanasia for patients who have an incurable illness that causes them unbearable physical or mental suffering. He has put to death more than a hundred patients.

In Belgium, euthanasia is embraced as an emblem of enlightenment and progress, a sign that the country has extricated itself from the Catholic, patriarchal roots. In Oregon and Switzerland, studies have shown that people who request death are less motivated by physical pain than by the desire to remain autonomous. Lawmakers in twenty-three U.S. states have introduced bills that  would make it legal for doctors to help people die. Opponents have warned for years that legislation will lead to a "slippery slope," but in Oregon fewer than nine hundred people have used lethal prescriptions since the law was passed and they represent the demographic that is least likely to be coerced: they are overwhelmingly white, educated and well-off. In terminal cases, the two doctors need to confirm that the patient's suffering stems from an incurable illness. For non-terminal cases, three doctors must agree.

Last year, thirteen percent of the Belgiums who were euthanized did not have a terminal illness and roughly three percent suffered from psychiatric disorders. In Belgium, it is not unusual for patients to live in psychiatric institutions for years. Outpatient care is minimal, poorly funded and fragmented, as it is in most countries. [1]

*Battling Health and Hunger - In New Mexico, one in six residents struggle with hunger and New Mexico has one to the highest childhood hunger rates in the nation, according to Feeding America. In Bernilillo County, about sixteen percent of residents do not have access to adequate food to ensure good nutrition. U.S.health care costs resulting from hunger total more than $130.5 billion per year, according to the Center for American Progress.

*Value of Older Workers - "Nearly a quarter-century ago, in 1991, only about 1 worker in 10 planned to stay in the workforce beyond age 65. Today, that number has risen to almost 4 in 10. In 1991, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, some 30 percent of Americans age 55 or older were working. By 2013, the workforce participation rate for those 58-plus had passed 40 percent, and it's rising steadily." [2]

*Painkiller ODs -- Between 1993 and 2012, the rate of hospitalizations for prescription painkiller overdoses increased five-fold among people 45 to 85 -- much faster than for younger adults, according to data from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. Chronic pain afflicts an estimated 100 million Americans. [3]

Footnotes
[1] Rachel Aviv, "The Death Treatment," The New Yorker, June 22, 2015.

[2] T.R Reid, "The Value of Older Workers," AARP Bulletin, September 2015.

[3] Peter Jaret, "46 Americans Die Each Day from Painkiller ODs," AARP Bulletin, September 2015.