Ashcroft, Eastwood, and assisted dying

Humanist, May-June, 2005 by Faye Girsh

The tragic and conflicted ending of Warner Brothers' 2004 movie, Million Dollar Baby, has raised what looks like a big flap. Some groups of disabled people are accusing Clint Eastwood, even Hillary Swank and probably Morgan Freeman, of endorsing assisted suicide because the story from which the movie was taken talks about the help that was given to the young, severely disabled boxer who desperately wanted to die. Many other disabled people have defended the right to choose death when life involves unbearable suffering. Of course, certain religious groups have chimed in, arguing that that act of compassion somehow violates the sacredness of life. In its wisdom, Hollywood has appreciated this beautiful gem of a story and the outstanding acting by Eastwood, Swank, and Freeman by awarding them four Academy Awards (Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actress, and Best Supporting Actor, respectively).

Now let's turn 180 degrees from Eastwood to John Ashcroft. During his tenure as U.S. Attorney General, Ashcroft didn't like the fact that the citizens of Oregon voted twice to legalize physician aid-in-dying under careful and restrictive safeguards. And 206 people of the 210,000 who have died in Oregon over the past seven years used, with the legal help of their doctors, the Death with Dignity Act to choose the time and manner in which to die.

But, back in November 2001 (a mere month and a half after 9/11), Ashcroft issued an edict that doctors in Oregon--and presumably elsewhere in the United States--who prescribed federally controlled substances to help patients die a peaceful death, would lose their prescribing licenses and possibly face criminal penalties. His edict was challenged in federal court where Judge Robert Jones ruled that Ashcroft was out of bounds. So Ashcroft appealed to the notorious Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which again told him that the Justice Department had no jurisdiction over how such medicines were to be used and that such decisions were up to the state. One more appeal for an en banc hearing of the Ninth Circuit was denied so, as one of his last acts as U.S. Attorney General, he appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court, which declined to hear the Schindler family's appeal in the Terry Schiavo case.

The same forces are at work today: the religiously intolerant people behind Ashcroft are also critical of Eastwood and support some of the so-called disability rights organizations. Not Dead Yet, for example, which has been so vocal against Million Dollar Baby, only raises rights issues for the disabled on the matter of assisted dying. It isn't interested in other concerns relating to the disabled. It also supports George W. Bush's rally for freedom and liberty around the world but would deny a person the freedom to decide when her or his suffering is intolerable and seek a legal and peaceful way out. (In Spain, those same forces denied Ramon Sampedro, the quadriplegic whose life is so beautifully portrayed in the 2004 award-winning film The Sea Inside, the escape he wanted from a life that had become intolerable.)

In both Million Dollar Baby and The Sea Inside, the protagonists' release from suffering is their choice--a thoughtful, rational choice made over time after having weighed all the alternatives. In both situations no legal assistance was available and their deaths had to be achieved with the help of people who loved them. They took a chance, used methods that don't necessarily produce a reliably peaceful, quick, and certain death (though fortunately in these instances they did), and no one was caught or prosecuted for having provided assistance to them.

As statutes stand today in Oregon, the only state in the union where assisted dying is legal (though it is known to be practiced in other states), neither the Hillary Swank character or Ramon Sampedro would be allowed to have legal help to end their lives, since neither was terminally ill. The Death with Dignity Act prohibits assistance from any one who isn't a doctor and requires that the dying person be able to self-administer the prescribed medication, although others may be present. This is a very rigid law and still it has been under attack in the courts and in Congress since it first passed eleven years ago. Though there have been attempts to pass similar laws in many other states--most recently Vermont and Hawaii--opposition has been organized, vociferous, and well-financed, though statistically it represents a minority of constituents in those states. But those comprising the opposition are the same groups now attacking Million Dollar Baby and Clint Eastwood's courage. This time, however, they may have picked an opponent who won't back down like the legislators who have to worry about reelection. They may just "make his day."

What Million Dollar Baby and The Sea Inside point out is that assisted dying is being practiced around the world, without a law, by people who believe that a hastened death should be available in certain cases. In the United States, desperate people who need this help have sources to which they can turn. It used to be that they could contact the Hemlock Society, but Hemlock no longer exists in its original form. They can contact the Final Exit Network (www.finalexitnetwork.org), which has taken over Hemlock's Caring Friends program. The networks "exit guides" can work individually with those who have terminal or hopeless illnesses and are considering a hastened death, advising them of the possibilities that exist and helping them examine their choices. Compassion and Choices (www.compassion andchoices.org) will also provide counseling about available alternatives and can provide personal counseling to terminally ill people through its Client Services program. Another useful resource is the book Final Exit by Hemlock's founder, Derek Humphry, which can be purchased at most bookstores and through Humphry's website (www.finalexit.org).