Georgia committee discusses physician-assisted death for terminally ill Georgians

Jamie McNeil holds a picture of sister Jennifer Bullard who sought health aid in dying care Alander Rocha Georgia Recorder For Jennifer Bullard the decision to seek a physician-assisted death was not an act of wanting to die but of taking control over how and when she died noted Bullard s sister Jamie McNeil Speaking to the Georgia House Inhabitants and Population Strength Committee Monday McNeil shared how her sister s ALS assessment progressively paralyzed her muscles leading to excruciating and brutal suffering and that despite Bullard s courage and her family s round-the-clock care could not be fully alleviated by conventional healthcare care Bullard McNeil revealed was terrified of locked-in syndrome a state of total paralysis while the mind remains conscious and alert Unable to communicate unable to speak unable to move at all to me that is the very definition of torture and my sister didn t deserve to be tortured McNeil commented Jennifer adamantly did not want to die but she even more adamantly did not want to go through the locked-in syndrome Rep Sharon Cooper Ross Williams Georgia Recorder McNeil explained that the therapeutic aid in dying MAID option gave her sister a sense of dignity and peace allowing her to coordinate a beautiful passing that included a final intimate farewell with family and friends After receiving the medication McNeil disclosed she held her sister who peacefully passed away within minutes The the majority harm that you could have done Jennifer would be to have made her live out this infection in that torture McNeil declared Bullard underwent the procedure in California where it is legal unlike in Georgia Committee chair Rep Sharon Cooper a Marietta Republican explained the purpose for the committee hearing was to learn about MAID There has not been a bill filed in previous sessions and it s unclear if regulation related to MAID will be considered yet in the next session Dr Adrienne Mims a geriatrician and vice chair of the Georgia Council on Aging described MAID as a curative choice for a terminally ill mentally capable adult to obtain and self-administer a prescription to die peacefully She clarified it is distinct from suicide which she noted is a separate population physical condition issue Mims presented statistics from Oregon where MAID has been legal since showing that thousands of prescriptions have been written and a majority were used It is a choice Sometimes people feel it s empowering to be able to have that as an option Mims noted Rep Scott Hilton Ross Williams Georgia Recorder Palliative care is focused on improving a sufferer s quality of life at any stage of a serious illness while hospice is for those with a prognosis of six months or less Anthony Davis a social worker in palliative care revealed that a person s request for MAID could stem from a lack of materials rather than a true desire to die He commented that as a social worker he is in favor of autonomy in end-of-life care but he disclosed that there must be tools in place such as proper mental strength counseling before MAID is an option Once you assess further you find it s not death that they re wanting it s the lack of information Davis mentioned It s the fact that they don t have the things needed whether it be transportation whether it be food whether it be caregiver sponsorship sometimes it s that they don t even have assistance from their family Rep Scott Hilton a Republican from Peachtree Corners expressed moral discomfort about family members ability to push such an option and fear of a perverse incentive where insurance companies might promote MAID as a cheaper alternative to costly long-term care Rep Dexter Sharper Ross Williams Georgia Recorder How do we prohibit financial incentives from coming into play here either from the family who is maybe seeking benefit from that person passing or for example insurance companies who may begin to push this as a cheaper option as opposed to prolonging life he required Rep Dexter Sharper a Valdosta Democrat who has worked as a paramedic for more than two decades explained that he d much rather this be an option than hearing that a family member died by suicide because they had no other option I remember all the suicides that I ve been to as a paramedic over the last years Every last one of them I don t suffer with anything from it thank God but I remember where I was and where they did it to themselves So those are things that you guys just have to keep in mind there are going to be other issues that happen Sharper stated The post Georgia committee discusses physician-assisted death for terminally ill Georgians appeared first on Rough Draft Atlanta