It started and ended with a joke, but the subject was anything but funny.

Yesterday students and professors packed the seats, couches and any standing room available in North Hall at Saint Joseph’s University for the 4 person panel on assisted suicide, and the bill currently being suggested in Pennsylvania, “Death With Dignity.”

Senator Daylin Leach, the author of the bill, was the first panelist to speak. The Senator began his speech with a story about his brother in law who was terminally ill, and the trials that his family went through. The ordeal raised the question of the conditions Leach would like to end his life under.

The bill would allow Leach and any others the option to end their suffering, under very controlled circumstances. If the patient has a prognosis from 2 doctors of less than 6 months with no hope of a cure, and requests twice, 15 days apart, with 2 witnesses, one with nothing to gain from the death, then they may receive drugs to take at their discretion that would end their lives.

Out of the 80 people in Oregon given the meds only 54 took them and “of the 54 there was no coercion” the Senator said.

Another proponent of the bill, Doctor Fleming, raised another key issue that the bill would correct: litigation.

“Will we get sued?” Doctor Fleming says is a question that many doctors ask concerning healthcare. In Senator Leach’s new bill there is protection for the doctor as well as a clause concerning the moral beliefs of the covering physician.

Doctor Fertan, the next panelist, does not agree with the bill, and vehemently argued against it. Using multiple simulated conversations Fertan raised moral issues that he saw with the bill, and ways that he saw around it.

A sophomore attending the speech, Jon Mucciolo, said, “I felt that he didn’t handle the situation properly, and didn’t really argue all that well, he was too offensive.”

The doctor’s statements and arguments also got a rise out of Senator Leach, and during the question and answer section the MC had to jump in multiple times in order to keep the questions moving and stop the two’s arguing.

The fourth panelist, June Crawford, was a hospice proponent, and while not saying much on the subject of assisted suicide, fielded many questions about the end of life experience, and her opinions.

The subject brings up many emotions in people everywhere, and emotions and thoughts were clearly seen and stated at the speech. One sophomore that attended, Colby Roane, stated his opinion, “I feel like I’m not a fan of any life ending unnaturally, but I’m not one to inflict my ethical or moral beliefs on anyone, so I feel this bill is good for those who are ok with such things.” The bill will be voted on and the contentious issue will be decided on.

http://www.senatorleach.com/

http://www.medicareadvocacy.org/FAQ_Hospice.htm

http://www.ncbcenter.org/