When Hawai’i resident and lobbyist John Radcliffe was diagnosed with incurable colon cancer in 2014, he came up with the ultimate conclusion. He has decided that a quick and painless death by choice is better than prolonging the agony of deteriorating in front of loved ones.
When Hawai’i resident and lobbyist John Radcliffe was diagnosed with incurable colon cancer in 2014, he came up with the ultimate conclusion. He has decided that a quick and painless death by choice is better than prolonging the agony of deteriorating in front of loved ones.
This is why Radcliffe is advocating alongside the Compassion and Choices Hawaii. This organization supports legislature that allows terminally ill patients with six or less months to live, the choice to pass peacefully in their sleep via prescribed medication.
“There’s a choice between dying at home in my own bed with my family around me or in a pretty hectic situation with a lot of people hammering on me, keeping me alive for no good reason,” Radcliffe told KHON 2 News.
Death with dignity
Five states;California, Colorado, Oregon, Vermont, and Washington;have legalized physician-assisted suicide. Meanwhile, 37 states have laws prohibiting assisted-suicide.
To deny such assistance is to deny a quick and painless passing for many terminally-ill victims, who would rather die with dignity than prolong their suffering.
At 30 years old, Miguel Carrasquillo was diagnosed with glioblastoma multiforme, an aggressive type of brain cancer.
Carrasquillo wrote in the Huffington Post, “I have lived with the reality of premature death for more than four years.”
In response to the prohibitions of assisted suicide in certain states, Carrasquillo has made the decision to voluntarily stop eating and drinking, or VSED. VSED is one of the few decisions that terminally-ill patients choose if their state does not allow medical aid in dying.
“Cancer is my prison, and intolerable suffering is my sentence,” said Carrasquillo, “What crime did I commit to be forced to die this way? Why aren’t there laws authorizing the option of medical aid-in-dying in every U.S. state and territory, including my home state of Illinois and Puerto Rico, where my parents are caring for me during my final days?”
Freedom over pain
In 1997, the majority of those in attendance at the Blue Ribbon Panel were in favor of enacting a legislation to create “an affirmative right to AID (Aid in Dying).” In 2011, the Death with Dignity legislation had failed to be enacted.
Compassions and Choices Hawaii has filed a lawsuit against both the state and city prosecutor regarding the matter. Radcliffe hopes they will come to understand that such an aid, otherwise known as physician-aid in dying, is not murder, but a “safety valve.”
"This is a good legislation.” he said to Hawaii News Now. “And the kind of legislation Hawaii is known for.”
Current medical care in assisting terminally-ill patients include pain management, decline in treatment, and voluntary rejection of food and drink, which is helpful to a certain degree. Radcliffe believes the state can do better.
“We're the humanistic guys. We're the ones that are good to people. We have aloha. We live right. And we die right."
(This article has been published on Ka Leo.)
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