For Initiative-1000

Imagine that a brutal car crash just happened on a major highway. The high-speed crash proved fatal for one of the victims, but the other person involved in the crash was hanging on by a thread in the mangled piece of metal that used to be his car as the ambulance rushed to the scene of the accident. Amazingly, as the ambulance arrives, the man is still alive as they put him in a stretcher and wheel him into the back of the ambulance. His wife heard of the news and was extremely delighted and grateful to hear that he was alive, but after coming to the hospital and visiting him, her mood changed drastically. His entire body was crushed by the wreck, and the only reason he was living is because he was hooked up to dozens of different machines. She tried to talk to him and get him to recognize her, but he was hardly conscious and was full of so many different drugs that he could barely even talk. After a couple of days she came back, and while he was able to talk, life was getting extremely hard for him because he had nothing to do all day but stare at the ceiling and feel pain whenever he breathed in. The nurse informed him that he only had five months left to live, and he tells his wife, “I don’t want to feel this kind of pain for five more months with no chance at actually becoming better. I want to end it now so I won’t be a burden to you or myself.” Sorrowfully, his wife agreed and asked the doctor about it. The doctor, however, said that it is against the law to give a patient a fatal dose of medicine. The man’s wife informed him of this, and at hearing this, many hurtful words were shouted. “How do they have the right to be able to control my life?” “Why do they care if I live or die?” “They are hurting me by keeping me alive! Can’t they see that?” He doesn’t know what he is going to do with his future.

Sadly enough, this is a situation that occurs in hospitals because of the law that says that it is illegal for a patient to be given a fatal dose of medicine to end his life. However, this situation and these feelings of pain could be completely avoided by the new initiative that is going to be voted on: Initiative-1000. Initiative-1000 was brought on by the friends and families of people who knew that they had no future life ahead of them except for being in the hospital, and wanted to end their lives prematurely, only to be denied by the government. These people founded Initiative-1000 under the reasoning that the government shouldn’t decide whether people who are in critical condition live or die, it should be the individual person’s decision.

There are many people who support Initiative-1000 and see why it is a good idea. One of those people is Nancy Niedzielski. Her husband, Randy, lived the last six months of his life suffering and dying from brain cancer in 2006. He wanted to end his life much like the scenario that was described beforehand. When he was denied the ability to end his life prematurely, he became very angry because he knew how much of a burden he was going to become to his family and friends. Nancy saw how angry her husband became and started to petition for Initiative-1000. So far, she has over 1,700 signatures for the initiative. Niedzielski says, “Nobody knows what they are going to want in the future. This is about giving people options and choice, because none of us knows how we’re going to die.” In Oregon, there is already a law that is similar to Initiative-1000 in place. In Oregon, lethal prescriptions have been given to 341 people who wanted to end their lives prematurely. Dr. Jack Leversee is another person who is for Initiative-1000. He says, “"The last thing I want is to be in an intensive-care unit in some hospital and being declared alive because I'm artificially on a breathing machine, keeping my heart going with a defibrillator, unconscious so I can't communicate with my family in any way. I don’t want that at all.”

There are also several arguments against Initiative-1000 because of people worrying that Initiative-1000 isn’t safe, but you can be assured that there are many different safety precautions that are put into Initiative-1000 so that it is as safe as can be. One opponent of Initiative-1000, Duane French, who has been disabled since age 14, says that once this initiative is put into place, people are going to see him as worthless, and something that shouldn’t be living. He says that it will start a whole new prejudice against disabled and handicapped people. This would be something to worry about, but there is a safety precaution built into Initiative-1000 that makes it safe for disabled people like Duane. Initiative-1000 says that patients must have a doctor’s approval saying that they have six months or less left to live before they can be prescribed lethal medication. This makes it safe for disabled and handicapped people. There are also some worries that Initiative-1000 may be carried out on people who are going to die, but haven’t actually given consent to taking lethal medication yet. This is also an uninformed argument, because Initiative-1000 also states that it is entirely the patients’ decision; they must choose that they want to take lethal medication. A doctor can prescribe lethal medication to a patient, but it is the patient that must administer the medication to themselves. This makes it safe for people who do not want to end their lives even though they are suffering in the hospital.

As you can see, Initiative-1000 is a completely safe law. People must have less than six months left to live, and they have to administer the medication to themselves. There are many people who believe that it is a good idea for people who have nothing left in their life but suffering to be able to end their lives prematurely. In the end, you have to put yourself in suffering peoples’ shoes. If you wanted to end your life, would you want other people controlling that option for you?