Doyle Survey At Town Meeting

[Deacon Steve]

Hi Y'all . . .
 
As announced on VPR today, the Doyle Town Meeting Day  Poll will have the following question:
#3) Should Vermont Legalize Physician-Assisted  Suicide?
  
Please alert your neighbors and friends to attend Town  Meeting Day and cast a NO vote on question #3.

Bob Kinzel- Montpelier, Vt.
(Host) For the 42 nd straight year, Washington County Senator Bill  Doyle is soliciting public opinion on a wide range of issues on his Town Meeting  Day survey.
And, as VPR's Bob Kinzel reports, a few of the questions are ‘hot button  issues' that are likely to come before lawmakers in the second half of the  session.
(Kinzel) Doyle launched his survey as a freshman senator in the winter of  1969 as a way to gauge his constituents' support for Governor Deane Davis' plan  to create a state sales tax.
Since that time the questionnaire has grown into a statewide survey that's  filled out by roughly 12,000 people.
Doyle says he kept the survey going because he feels it's a way to help  stimulate public interest in Legislative issues.
(Doyle) "I know that people when they're sitting around their dining room  tables often will discuss this in the family and I think the more people know  what the issues are they are more informed voters...and these are issues that  haven't been decided yet."
(Kinzel) It's likely that a number of the issues on the survey will come  before lawmakers in the next 2 months including a bill that backers call "Death  with Dignity" and opponents refer to as "Physician Assisted Suicide."  On  the survey, Doyle says his question uses the "suicide" terminology for a reason.
(Doyle) "Because that's the way I asked the question 3 or 4 years ago. I  didn't want to change the question because there's no comparison otherwise. It  was pretty close then and I expect it to be pretty close now."
(Kinzel) The House and Senate Judiciary committees are looking at a variety  of ways to reduce drunk driving in the state. Doyle wants to know if the public  supports giving repeat offenders a mandatory minimum jail sentence.
(Doyle) "The people I talk to are really angry about it. They think the  present law is too soft and that drunk drivers on the road are potential  killers."
(Kinzel) This year's survey also asks if Vermont Yankee's license should be  extended, if the state's bottle bill should be expanded, and if drivers should  be prohibited from using cell phones while operating a vehicle.
Do the results of the survey have much impact on lawmakers during the second  half of the session?  Senate President John Campbell says the answer is  definitely ‘yes'.
( Campbell ) "Those are things that we all look at - we take a  serious look at it when we come back because it's amazing how many folks  actually fill them out... I think what's to me the most valuable is the fact  that it shows Vermonters actually participating in this whole process of  legislation."
(Kinzel) Doyle expects to have preliminary results of his survey in the  middle of March.

For VPR News, I'm Bob Kinzel in Montpelier.

[GamingWeasel]

I would definitely vote Yes.  I believe terminally ill people should have the right to die when and how they want, if they choose to do so.  The less government intrusion into peoples' private lives (or deaths), the better.

Edit - on the other questions my opinions are:

The House and Senate Judiciary committees are looking at a variety  of ways to reduce drunk driving in the state. Doyle wants to know if the public  supports giving repeat offenders a mandatory minimum jail sentence.  Yes

This year's survey also asks if Vermont Yankee's license should be  extended.  No.  Decommision the plant and build a new nuclear plant at the same site using 21st century technology.

If the state's bottle bill should be expanded.  I'm not famliar enough with the details to have an opinion. 

If drivers should be prohibited from using cell phones while operating a vehicle.  Yes

[mirjo]

I agree GW, I have been a supporter of DWD since 97 and of all I have read/listened to I have concluded that primarily the opposing side is a lot of hyperbolic rhetoric driven by emotions and religious beliefs. I have read a couple of things charging that the law in OR increased suicide rates among teens or something. It's likely that teen suicides has gone up over all in 13 yrs (we've seen plenty here in recent years) and DWD makes a great scape goat.

I've seen people suffer at the end, seen them suffer when quality of life no longer exists and anyone who is being honest will agree that when you have no quality of life, you have no reason to live and don't really want to. For me personally, if I knew I had a terminal illness, i would much rather go out on my own terms with a little grace while I'm still intact than after I've gone past the point of no return and I can no longer feed or care for myself in anyway. If intractable pain and suffering is what lies ahead for me, why would I choose IT?? Lying in a bed, risking skin break down, oblivious to the world around me?? This is the better choice? Good Grief Charlie Brown, this is such a no-brainer!

I agree with he others, except for the cell phone--in theory yes, but realistically, it's a waste of time & $$. It's largely a non-enforceable law.

[Chris Santee]

Mirjo,
People already have the right to die.

Patients currently have the right to determine the extent of their care
and they can lay out their desired end-of-life care in writing,
in case they become unable to communicte their wishes.

ANY PATIENT CAN REFUSE MEDICAL TREATMENT NOW !!!!!!
If a doctor treats them anyway, that doctor CAN BE PROSECUTED !
People have the right NOW to say, "I don't want that treatment, leave me alone".

"Death with Dignity" is a catchy little name, don't be fooled !
This is actually Doctor Prescribed Death !
Ask Gary Gilbert for details on how it works.
It's against doctors' and nurses' oathes.

GW,
Love those initials, didn't realize you were a closet fan.

I find it very scary that you, the guy who keeps saying
"there will be no death panels".............
is the first person to vote to KILL the elderly !
"I would definitely vote yes" GW stated.

Why not make some of your berries into jams this year and give some to the elderly ?

[Chris Santee]

and one more point.

Doctors Can Be Wrong !
In the early 1960's, a great President John F. Kennedy was assassinated
and Marcia Lou Sweeney Santee was diagnosed with cancer and given six months to live.
She was my mother, I was about 6 or 7 and I remember both events well.

In 1969, my mom and I sat together and watched Neal Armstrong walk on the moon.
I was 12. I got to grow up with her.

She passed away that October, three days after I turned 13.
Those six and a half years of memories mean a lot.

Please don't take those memories away from your kids.

For those of you that know my mom in Florida, after my birth mother passed,
my dad remarried and Helen helped raise me through my older teen years.
She deserves to be called "mom".

Have a beautiful Sunday !

[slpott]

Obviously it is not a law or a well known fact but............................................Dr. assisted death is and has been happening forever when situations permit common sense. When my daughter was born and 12 days later was dying, the doctor knew that she had lost all body functions and was basically dead except for breathing, they assisted to put her at peace and us too. There really was not a choice in the matter realistically. I do not think that Dr.s promote the inevitable. If you are not suffering or in excrutiating pain, they probable would not do anything drastic regardless of your wishes. Being a doctor is a lot of schooling and I would think that most of the doctors do it because they want to do it and care. I do not believe there needs to be a law. We all know what it takes to not be here anymore. We also know that miracles do happen and humans do make mistakes.

[mkr]

I totally Agree with Chris Santee.  As for cell phone use; I am a fan of hands free devices. Saying no cell phone usage would mean I would get a fine if I call 911 to report an accident while travelling.  Plus a list of other multiple reasons to use it while travelling. Use your head, if road conditions are bad or high traffic, stay off the phone.  No different then changing CD's in your car stereo.....

[GamingWeasel]

I find it very scary that you, the guy who keeps saying
"there will be no death panels".............
is the first person to vote to KILL the elderly !
"I would definitely vote yes" GW stated.

Why not make some of your berries into jams this year and give some to the elderly ?

You scare too easily Chris, haha.   You think a terminally ill person making the decision to die when they choose and the ridiculously fictitious "death panels will kill your grandma" is the same thing?  What I support is the right of individuals to make a determination about their own lives.  Not other people, not the make-believe "panels", and not me, unless it is my own life.

I dont know how to make jam, and my berry patches are too small to probably make even one jar, heh.  Maybe in a few years.

Yes, I am a fan of George Washington too, what a coincidence!

[Stand Alone Defense]

I have to Agree with Chris to on this.  If you want to take your own life that is your right, but keep the government and doctors out of it.  To me it is a cowardly way to go out suicide, but if it is a choice that someone wants to make. At least have the courage to do it yourself and don't pawn the task off to someone else. Just my 2 cents

[Chris Santee]

Thanks for the humor, GW, I do appreciate having you as a neighbor.

You stated:
What I support is the right of individuals to make a determination about their own lives.

That's what we already have.
That's not what this Bill is about.

Best of luck with the berries !

[Chris Santee]

Here's a letter on the subject from Dr. Joe Nasca of Georgia:
http://www.burlingtonfreepress.com/article/20110323/OPINION03/103230311/Letter-Assisted-suicide-not-ethical-medical-practice?odyssey=mod|newswell|text|FRONTPAGE|s