MDNews - Central New York

L ATER THIS MONTH, THE MEDICAL SOCIE T Y OF THE STATE OF NE W YORK šMSSNY› WILL CONDUCT THE ANNUAL MEE TING OF THE HOUSE OF DELEGATES IN BUFFALO. DELEGATES MAY RECEIVE the results of the MSSNY members' survey about end-of-life issues. At last year's meet- ing, the House pa ssed a resolution authorizing this poll. In 2017, the State Legislature considered and did not pass bills dealing with physician-assisted suicide. The State Medical Society's Div ision of G over nmenta l A f fa irs shared memos with legislators and sta„ outlining the society's opposition to legalizing physician-assisted suicide. Simila r bills have been introduced again this year. Nationa lly, six states (Ca lifornia, Colorado, Montana, Oregon, Vermont and Washing ton) and the District of Columbia have approved physician- assisted suicide and/or euthanasia. The Gallup organization has been seek- ing public opinions on these subjects for many years. A June 2017 Ga llup poll revealed a new peak in approval, with 57 percent of those responding saying that physician-assisted suicide is morally acceptable. Despite increasing public support of physicia n-a ssisted suicide, t he American Medica l Association and most religious denominations in this country still oppose these measures. An exception is the Unitarian Universalist Association, which in 1988 approved a resolution supporting "the right to self-deter mination in dy ing." The AMA's Code of Medical Ethics declares that "physicia n-assisted suicide is fundamenta lly incompatible with a physicia n's role of hea ler, would be di…cult to control, and would pose seri- ous societal risks. Instead of engaging in assisted suicide, physicians must aggressively respond to the needs of patients at the end of life." Pope Francis addressed end-of-life issues in a letter prepared for attend- ees at a November 2017 Europea n Regional Meeting of the World Medical Association in conjunction with the Pontifica l Academy for Life. In his statement, Pope Francis advised doc- tors to avoid overzealous treatment of patients which might not be appro- priate and are extraordinary means. The Roman Catholic Church has for many years stated that it is mora lly acceptable to withdraw treatment in cases where the patient is termina lly ill with no hope of sur viva l a nd has previously approved or left to others the di…cult decision. In t he la st 50 yea rs, t here have been countless stories and editoria ls about end-of-life issues on radio and television, as well as in newspapers, magazines and online. None, however, have received more at tention tha n those about Karen Ann Quinlan and Terri Schiavo. An Associated Press article by Ravi Nessman in the April 7, 1996 edition of the Los Angeles Times reports on the Karen Ann Quinlan case 20 years after her death: "Most A merica ns reca ll Karen Ann Quinlan as the comatose woman in a black-and-white photo- g raph published a round the world, whose l i fe on a vent i lat or led t he nation's first right-to-die case. ... The New Jersey Supreme Court ruled that the Quinlans had the right to take their daughter o„ life-support equipment. Since then, dozens of court rulings and scores of laws have backed that right." The article includes comment from Joseph Quinlan, a former pharmaceu- tical executive and father of Karen Ann Quinlan, saying, "They say we were the pioneers. I guess we were. We just did what we had to do." The Nessman article notes that the "Quinlan case was a direct outgrowth of a revolution of life-supporting tech- nolog y in the 1950s and '60s. Patients no longer died simply at home; many lingering for weeks or months, kept a live by machines." According to Wikipedia, "Schiavo's husba nd a nd lega l g ua rdia n a rg ued that Schiavo would not have wanted prolonged a r tificia l life without the prospect of recover y, and elected to remove her feeding tube. ... The highly publicized case and prolonged series of legal challenges presented by her par- ents, which ultimately involved state and federa l politicians up to the level of President George W. Bush, caused a seven-yea r delay before Schiavo's feeding tube was ultimately removed. ... Sta „ at the Pinellas Pa rk hospice facility disconnected the feeding tube on March 18, 2005, and Schiavo died on March 31, 2005." G e rald N. "Je r r y" Hof f m an wa s chief executive o•cer of the Onondaga County Medical Society from 1981 until his retirement on Jan. 31, 2014, and is co-author of two books, Medica l Malpractice Insurance: A Legislator's View, and The History of Local Medical Care: Celebrating Physicians Past and Present, 1806-2006. ■ BY JERRY HOFFMAN MSSNY Surveys Members on End-of-life Issues 0 5 M D N E W S . C O M /// M D N E W S C E N T R A L N Y 2 018 H E A LT H C A R E P E R S P E C T I V E ❰❰❰❰❰ 0 5

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