May 25, 2006: Brownback's Congressional Hearing
On Friday, May 19, 2006 Sen. Brownback, chair of a Judiciary subcommittee of the U.S. Senate, announced a hearing to be held six days later, on “assisted suicide and euthanasia.” Committee members in the minority party called upon Compassion & Choices to help schedule witnesses and prevent an erroneous, biased record.
Three witnesses, Compassion & Choices Legal Director Kathryn Tucker, Oregon Hospice Association Executive Director Ann Jackson and family member Julie McMurchie presented the reality of Oregon’s experience with legal aid in dying. They testified to the comfort and hope the law brings to dying patients and how hospice and palliative care has thrived and grown in the past eight years in Oregon.
UPDATE: Senator Brownback was the only Senator in attendance. Witnesses called by the majority talked about the Netherlands and did not attempt to denigrate the Oregon experience. Compassion & Choices' witnesses performed like ROCK STARS. Julie McMurchie, Ann Jackson and Kathryn Tucker all presented strong, fact-filled testimony that was not challenged. Kathryn Tucker answered the last question and closed the hearing with, “Oregonians who use the aid in dying law love life. They want to live. But when they reach the end of life, they want that end to be peaceful, humane and attended by their loved ones.”
The Numbers
National polling confirms that people in every state want dignified ends to their lives and control over the last chapters. They are tired of Congress intervening in personal decisions as it did in the Schiavo case.
Eight years of data from Oregon State reports and from great quantities of independent, scholarly research provides enormous data about a law that harms no one and helps many with the comfort of choice and control in their final days.
Oregon citizens overwhelmingly approve of, and cherish, their end-of-life liberties. In Oregon, support for the law reaches far beyond partisan politics to a unified dedication to the public good.
Take Action
Brownback’s witnesses are the most vehement, zealous voices against free exercise of end-of-life choices, including withdrawing feeding tubes and other life-sustaining therapies in accordance with stated wishes and decriminalization of aid in dying. They do not speak for the great majority of Americans.
The American people are understandably fearful of unwarranted intrusions in difficult end-of-life decisions, and they are tired of political grandstanding.
> Let Your Representatives Hear Your Voice!
Our participation in this critical hearing is essential. Your donation will help get end-of-life choice to the legislative table.
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