BRISTOL, Tenn., -- Michigan members of a national organization of doctors that has testified against physician assisted suicide in Congress and the Supreme Court say that assisted suicide will undermine vital patient protections and the doctor-patient relationship. The 13,000-member Christian Medical & Dental Society plans to blitz the state with their life-honoring message in a speaking campaign covering state hospitals, medical schools, media outlets and churches.
CMDS Executive Director Dr. David Stevens, who will be speaking throughout the state September 23-25, 1998, asserts, "We now have advanced pain control technology which provides excellent alternatives to suicide. We need to be teaching doctors how to provide quality end-of-life care, not abandoning terminally ill patients in their most critical time of need."
Muskegon physician and CMDS member Dr. John Mulder says, "it is curious, and more than a bit frightening, that `dignity' has been equated with suicide." Mulder continues, "Hospice care offers dying with dignity, fulfilling the true meaning of compassion -- coming alongside the sufferer. The loving care of friends and family can bring immeasurable value to the lives of terminally ill patients."
Former Surgeon General and CMDS member Dr. C. Everett Koop notes, "At greatest risk are the poor, elderly, disabled, disadvantaged and others without access to good medical care -- for whom the `choice to die' could become the `duty to die.'" Koop further adds, "Society must not allow doctors to be killers as well as healers."
CMDS will provide news media with a panel of local medical experts as well as a video news release featuring doctors and patients who deal with end-of-life issues daily. More information on the media campaign, including a Michigan speaker's bureau and public speaking schedule, is available at www.cmds.org. For media interviews and additional information, contact Annemarie Dugan, Media and PR Coordinator, at (423) 844-1000.
SOURCE Christian Medical & Dental Society
and Pro-Life Infonet http://www.prolife.org/ultimate/infonetfaq.html