Journalist: Destiny Lugo (ORU)
House Bill No. OSU-552 authored by Bevin Strawn (OSU) aims to give dying people with terminal illness the right to choose the way they die. By offering the option of assisted medical aid in dying, people with no hope for recovery can evade excruciating pain and this act would spare families the traumatic experience of seeing loved ones die while feeling powerless to help.
The author defined “medical aid in dying” as “a practice in which a physician provides a mentally capable adult suffering from a terminal illness with a prescription for a lethal dose of oral medication at the request of a patient, which the patient intends to use to end their life peacefully.”
There would be a diverse range of “end-of-life care, including but not limited to, comfort care, hospice care, pain control, and palliative care,” provided to terminally ill patients by physicians.
The House was loud with caucus; heartfelt personal stories were told, and concern over the bill was expressed. Many delegates felt torn.
“A possible consequence of the bill is that its cheaper for suicide than chemotherapy- and so assisted suicide may be a plausible route, and I’m concerned,”- said Xavier Williams (SE).
However, a term of the bill that addresses this thought process included that, “No health insurance company operating in the state of Oklahoma may deny coverage of other forms of treatment for a terminal illness due to the option of medical aid in dying.”
“In Canada you have the MAID program, they wont offer treatment, they’ll say ‘sorry you’re untreatable’ and they’ll instead be offered assisted suicide. They’ve come to the U.S. to hear a second opinion and receive chemotherapy here. There was a case with a couple where the wife got cancer, and they were Canadian seeking healthcare in the United States,” said Jenna Hansen (SE).
Another representative expounded; “One in twenty Canadians die of euthenasia. I worry about the coercion of our healthcare providers. The right to die is not constitutional…” said Carson Veenstra (SE).
Many delegates expressed with great conviction; “I am concerned about the greed of pharmaceutical companies. I don’t want ill people to be subject to these…profiteering corporations” said Anderson Bell (TU).
“This bill is breaking my heart. Not every family is financially capable…this puts families in a position where the only way to help is to end the life of their loved one,” said a House representative.
“I am the child of a person with a degenerative disease and I wish he had the individual sovereignty to end his life,” said Izzy Sand (OSU).
“They say that there will be a mental evaluation but…it never says that they must be informed…if it encourages them not to, they have no choice but to comply,” said Nadia Harris (ORU).
“I want people to go how they wish,” said Strawn (OSU) in her author’s summation. Despite the presence of determined proponency debaters in the room, the bill failed yet again.