The right to die movement has experienced a massive growth of support in recent years, with Gallups’ Andrew Dugan writing, “Nearly seven in 10 Americans (68%) say doctors should be legally allowed to assist terminally ill patients in committing suicide, up 10 percentage points from last year. More broadly, support for euthanasia has risen nearly 20 points in the last two years and stands at the highest level in more than a decade” (Dugan). This year, Turner Ashby High School proposed House Bill 22, an amendment to § 8.01-622.1 of the Code of Virginia which would allow a licensed healthcare provider to assist in suicide.
Currently, physician assisted suicide (PAS) is legal in seven US states, and illegal but decriminalized in seven more (Euthanasia Regulations Around the World). PAS is currently illegal, but decriminalized in Virginia, and this amendment seeks to go one step further by legalizing it. PAS differs from voluntary active euthanasia (VAS) in the the way the lethal means is provided. In PAS, the physician makes the lethal means, for instance a lethal dose of pills, available to the patient, and it is up to said patient when and where to use it. In VAS, the physician takes an active role in the patient's death, usually by the intravenous delivery of a lethal substance, for example, a lethal injection. VAS is illegal in all 50 states, but the legality of PAS is varies from state to state. This amendment passed committee with about 5/8th of the votes.
Works Cited
Dugan, Andrew. “In U.S., Support Up for Doctor-Assisted Suicide.” Gallup, 27 May 2015, news.gallup.com/poll/183425/support-doctor-assisted-suicide.aspx. Accessed 22 March 2018
Euthanasia Regulations Around the World, ethicslab.georgetown.edu/euthanasia-map/. Accessed 22 March 2018
“Journal Entry 5 ‘Pill Bottle Cap Designs.’” Trading Media, 7 Nov. 2008, bayazidt.wordpress.com/com-597-theories-and-practice-of-interactivity/pill-bottle-cap-designs/.
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