Oppose assisted suicide

I urge Daily Herald readers to tell our state senators to oppose the assisted suicide bill (End-of-Life Options) — Senate Bill 3499 — that the legislators will likely be voting on in the first week of January.

My dad was placed in hospice five years ago. He suffered from various ailments at age 92. But I would be greatly saddened if he chose assisted suicide. It would seem to me to be a personal rejection of his children and family members. As if he were saying, “I don’t want to see you until the end. Good riddance!”

People often feel anger after a loved one takes their own life. Thus, assisted suicide intuitively seems like an unnatural death.

As it happened, my dad was a man of strong faith, believing that God would take him home to heaven.

Many people think that the purpose of law is to allow people to do what they want. But the law is a teacher. We want our legislators to enable citizens to appreciate the lives we have — not to despise them. SB 3499 is therefore a bad idea.

Kevin Banet

Pingree Grove