Question

Why does John B. Kelly reject poll findings on the topic of assisted suicide as unreliable?

Answer 1

Ans) Mistakes and abuse in the medical system also sentence innocent people to death.

- People who are misdiagnosed (see John Norton), people who would respond to more treatment (Jeanette Hall), people who wouldn’t die for years (Oregon’s statistics), will be led to tragically “choose” death.

- And because not all families are loving or financially secure, innocent people will be bullied (Kate Cheney) or worse by abusive families and caregivers (Wendy Melcher).

- With thousands or even millions of dollars at stake, beneficiaries will be motivated to ensure a premature death (Thomas Middleton).

- Just like the death penalty, assisted suicide exacerbates existing inequalities across race and class. People who are mentally ill, people of color, and poor people are much more likely to be sentenced to death.

- Assisted suicide programs have offered lethal drugs to patients with severe depression (Michael Freeland) and to people denied treatment (Barbara Wagner). Patients of color receive substandard, often deadly lack of medical care, and are the targets of educational campaigns to prepare advanced directives, give up on treatment, and enter hospice.

- Assisted suicide is unique in that the leading proponents are more well-to-do, better educated and whiter than the general population. People of color oppose legalized assisted suicide (Pew Research Center on End-Of-Life), and do not participate in the legalized programs (Oregon statistics).

- And yet the great cost-savings potential of early death already drives much of of end-of-life policy. We poorer people are already under increasing pressure to refuse life-saving treatment (even antibiotics or temporary ventilation). For people who are already viewed as “better off dead,” assisted suicide will become a recommended option.