An Argument For, An Argument Against Mass. Ballot Question Two:
Rose-Anne Meade chairs the committee against physician-assisted suicide.
Here's her argument, fact checked against the full text of ballot Question 2.
Rose-Anne Meade: “We don’t require that they get any kind of counseling."
FACT:
The bill recommends consultations.
"(3) refer the patient to a consulting physician for a diagnosis and prognosis regarding the patient’s disease...
(4) refer the patient for psychiatric or psychological consultation if the physician believes the patient may have a disorder causing impaired judgment;"
Rose-Anne Meade: "We don’t require any family notification."
FACT:
The bill recommends family notification.
"(5) recommend that the patient notify next of kin of the patient’s intention; "
Rose-Anne Meade: "There’s no tracking of the prescription from the time somebody picks up this lethal dose of (medication) at the pharmacy. They take it home and then there’s no tracking."
FACT:
There's tracking.
"...the proposed law would require the attending physician to report each case in which life-ending medication is dispensed to the state Department of Public Health."
Rose-Anne Meade: "there’s no physician at the end."
FACT:
There could be a physician at the end.
"(6) recommend that the patient have another person present when the patient ingests the medicine and to not take it in a public place;"
Rose-Anne Meade: "They say it’s physician assisted suicide but there is no requirement for a physician to be there at the end."”
FACT:
It’s not physician assisted suicide.
"This proposed law would allow a physician licensed in Massachusetts to prescribe medication, at a terminally ill patient’s request, to end that patient’s life."
VOTE YES on 2.
Learn more:
Death With Dignity National Center.
Massachusetts Dignity 2012 - Yes on 2
They also have that annoying TV commercial.
On YouTube: Comments are disabled for this video.
I need to fact check it too.