Martin Sheen Stars in Ad Opposing Assisted Suicide in Washington State

http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2008/sep/08093007.html

[LifeSiteNews] 1 Oct 2008--Veteran Hollywood actor and leftist political activist Martin Sheen has produced a radio spot opposing assisted suicide legislation in Washington State. I-1000, a ballot initiative set for the November elections, proposes to allow doctors to prescribe lethal doses of drugs to patients who request them.

Sheen said in his radio spot for "No I-1000" campaign, "It's a step backwards and I urge you to vote no." He called it a "dangerous idea that could hurt thousands of low-income people who need medical care."

Out of state euthanasia activists, including those in Oregon, where assisted suicide has been legal since 1994, have thrown their support behind I-1000, hoping its passage will create a domino effect across the country. The initiative would redefine suicide as medical treatment and allow doctors to order lethal drug overdoses even if the patient is simply depressed.

Sheen warned the initiative would undermine efforts to provide quality health care for poor and low income disabled people, presenting medical insurers with suicide as a cheaper alternative. The initiative, he said, could "open up a loophole" in the law that could be used to "cut payments for the disabled and working poor, encouraging them to use assisted suicide."

Opponents of the initiative point out that with private and public health insurers looking for ways to cut costs of health care, terminally ill patients are most vulnerable to "triaging," in which further treatment is regarded as "futile" when suicide is available legally. In Oregon, the state health plan pays for assisted suicide but does not fund some chemotherapy for people with cancer.

Anti-euthanasia activists have urged support for the group Coalition Against Assisted Suicide, to help fund more television and radio spots to oppose the initiative.