Assisted Suicide

 

Former Baltimore Ravens’ football player testifies against bill to legalize assisted suicide in Maryland

By Dave Andrusko

O.J. Brigance, a former special teams player for the Baltimore Ravens diagnosed in 2007 with ALS, testified against right-to-die legislation in Maryland. (Photo: Jim Young/Reuters/Newscom)

Pro-lifers, like me, frequently lament that the face of the debate over assisted suicide ought not to be Brittany Maynard, who chose assisted suicide, but the courageous Lauren Hill. Hill, a freshman at Mt. Saint Joseph College, is battling an incurable brain disease but, in the process, has raised spirits and over $1 million for cancer research.
Occasionally, the good guys get front-and-center attention. That happened Tuesday in Annapolis, Md., where former Baltimore Ravens’ O.J. Brigance delivered incredibly powerful testimony against a bill to legalize assisted suicide.

Brigance was diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) in 2007. He delivered his testimony from a wheelchair, aided by a machine to replace the voice the degenerative disease has taken from him. His remarks were part of two hours of testimony before the Senate Judicial Proceedings Committee.

Cox wrote that “the former linebacker told Maryland lawmakers that his most significant feat came after he grieved over his degenerative condition and decided to live.”
“Because I decided to live life the best I could, there has been a ripple effect of goodness in the world,” Brigance said. “Since being diagnosed, I have done a greater good for society in eight years than in my previous 37 years on earth.”

He added, “The thought that there would be a legal avenue for an individual to take his or her own life in a moment of despair” robbing family, friends and society of their presence and contribution to society “” deeply saddens me and is a tragedy.”

There were a number of supporters and opponents who testified. Among the latter

An attorney with expertise in elder law [who] warned that family members could coerce loved ones to forgo life-extending treatment in order to preserve larger inheritances for themselves. A psychiatrist said people facing a terminal illness often suffer from depression, and may be mentally competent but nonetheless not in a state to choose to end their lives.

Several witnesses warned that right-to-die legislation could have unintended consequences for people with developmental or intellectual disabilities, who might consider sanctioned suicide an alternative to burdening loved ones with their care.

“If you say to me today you want to die, I’m obliged to commit you,” said David “Ted” George, a psychiatrist who testified against the House version of the bill. “Now there will be people who say, ‘I want to die,’ and I’m supposed to say, ‘OK, go die?'”

Source: NRLC News