The Maryland Catholic Conference (MCC) has issued a Call to Action asking Catholics to contact members of the state General Assembly’s “Death with Dignity” workgroup in order to oppose the “dangerous idea” of physician-assisted suicide (PAS).
The MCC Dec. 4 announcement asked Catholics to contact members of the workgroup by email and/or attend the group’s hearing Dec. 8 at 10 a.m. in Room 240, Health and Government Operations Committee Room, House Office Building, 6 Bladen Street, Annapolis, to show opposition to legalizing physician-assisted suicide.
PAS bills failed to advance in the general assembly in Annapolis earlier this year.
“There are many reasons why this bill is so troubling,” the MCC said in its Call to Action Alert, including:
- no doctor or nurse is required to be present for PAS;
- there’s no requirement that an independent witness be present;
- no metal health screening for depression is required;
- and “it’s impossible to accurately predict a terminal diagnosis of six months or less” as doctors have testified at previous hearings on PAS.
Other flaws in proposed physician-assisted suicide bills “leave those who are already vulnerable open to a significant risk of abuse, including those with disabilities, the frail elderly and populations with inadequate access to affordable healthcare,” the MCC said.
The following is the MCC’s list of the General Assembly’s “Death with Dignity” workgroup and its members’ email addresses:
Senate Chair Sen. Victor Ramirez, victor.ramirez@senate.state.md.us;
House Chair Del. Shane Pendergrass, shane.pendergrass@house.state.md.us;
Sen. Shirley Nathan Pullam, Shirley.nathan.pulam@senate.state.md.us;
Sen. Wayne Norman, wayne.norman@senate.state.md.us;
Sen. Justin Ready, justin.ready@senate.state.md.us;
Sen. Ronald Young, ronald.young@senate.state.md.us
Del. Terri Hill, Terri.Hill@house.state.md.us;
Del. Will Smith, Will.Smith@house.state.md.us;
Del. Geraldine Valentino Smith, geraldine.valentino.smith@house.state.md.us;
Del. Chris West, Chris.West@house.state.md.us
For more information on the dangers of assisted suicide, the MCC recommends consulting the website of Maryland Against Physician Assisted Suicide, stopassistedsuicide.org.
