Amendment to Terminal Patient Law seeks to
allow terminally ill patients to ask their doctors to prescribe lethal
sedatives to end their suffering, exempting the doctors from criminal
liability • Doctors warn move might lessen the value placed on life.
Bill seeks to legalize
doctor-assisted suicide for terminally ill patients [Illustrative]
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Photo credit: Reuters  |
The Ministerial Committee on Legislation plans
to debate a new bill that seeks to legalize doctor-assisted suicide for
terminally ill patients.
The proposal, dubbed the "death by
prescription" bill, was drafted by MK Ofer Shelah (Yesh Atid). It will
be presented to the committee on Sunday the one that just passed.
Shelah aims to amend the existing Terminal
Patient Law, which was passed in 2005 and regulates the medical
treatments offered to terminally ill patients, and their right to demand
or refuse to use drastic lifesaving measures.
While the existing law allows doctors to
refrain from prolonging the life of a terminally ill patient whose life
expectancy is under six months, it prevents patients for actively
seeking medical assistance to end their lives.
The amendment will allow a terminally ill
patient to ask his doctor to prescribe a lethal dose of sedatives to end
his suffering. The proposal stipulates that any such request must be
made in front of witnesses and on multiple occasions.
Doctors would still be barred from
administering the lethal dose, and patients would have to take it
themselves, exempting doctors from any criminal liability for their
death.
In the United States, physician-assisted "suicide" is legal in Oregon, Washington and Vermont.
The bill has sparked controversy in the
medical community in Israel, and many doctors have urged Shelah's fellow
Yesh Atid member Health Minister Yael German to oppose the bill.
"Doctors in Israel have earned the public's
trust because of our outstanding dedication to saving lives," Israel
Medical Association Chairman Dr. Leonid Idelman said. "This trust will
be detrimentally harmed if, heaven forbid, any doctor pursues
euthanasia."
In a letter to German, Idelman noted that the
World Medical Association's official position on the matter states that
euthanasia is unethical.
A senior medical source said that should the
bill pass, "it would lead to a slippery slope and lessen the value
society places on life."
(israelhayom) highlights our mine for clarification
