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<< Previous   of   Next >>   ADVERTISEMENT   ADDITIONAL ITEMS Hear the ad (MP3 Files)   CONTACT THE HERALD Robert Frank, City Editor frank@heraldnet.com   Published: Wednesday, October 1, 2008 Assisted suicide foes find ally in Martin Sheen By Krista J. Kapralos Herald Writer Actor Martin Sheen has lent his celebrity to the fight against Initiative 1000, a November ballot initiative seeking to legalize physician-assisted suicide. In radio ads that began Monday and in television ads set to begin today, Sheen tells voters that Initiative 1000 could be used by insurance companies as a loophole to avoid paying high costs for end-of-life care. "People who are ill need real medical care and compassion, not lethal drugs," Sheen said in the radio ad, which was paid for by the Coalition Against Assisted Suicide, an Olympia-based group. Sheen, who played a president on "The West Wing," brings credibility to the coalition's cause because he has a history of political activity on behalf of vulnerable people, said Chris Carlson, chairman of the group. "In this day and age it's important that you have a person in your advertising in whom the public will posit a lot of trust and faith," Carlson said. Supporters of the initiative, which they have termed the "Death with Dignity" act, say the ability to end one's own life in the case of terminal illness shouldn't be sullied by celebrities trying to sway public opinion. "They're relying on a Hollywood celebrity, and we're relying on real people who have had real experience with terminal illness," said Anne Martens, spokeswoman for Yes on I-1000, the group that first brought the initiative forward. "We're talking about giving terminally ill patients a choice," she said. "That choice doesn't belong to the government or religious institutions, and it does not belong to Martin Sheen." The initiative, created by former Gov. Booth Gardner, would allow terminally ill people to request lethal medication. The drug would only be available to people who have been diagnosed by at least two physicians with an illness that is believed will result in death within six months, and they must submit both oral and written requests and observe a waiting period before taking the lethal dose. "It's a dangerous idea that could hurt thousands of low-income people who need medical care," Sheen says in the ad. "It's a step backwards, and I urge you to vote 'No.'" Sheen played President Josiah Bartlet on "The West Wing," which aired between 1999 and 2006, and appeared in movies including "Apocalypse Now." The actor, a Democrat, has a long history of political activism. He supported Cesar Chavez in the 1960s and prayed with anti-war activist Cindy Sheehan while she camped out near President Bush's home in Texas. Sheen, a Roman Catholic, has also spoken out against abortion and other issues he says are influenced by his faith. Supporters of assisted suicide want to force the issue into partisan camps, with liberals and Democrats for it, and conservatives and Republicans against, Carlson said. With Sheen as a vocal opponent, other voters with liberal social views will know that it's okay to break from partisan labels, Carlson said. "One way we demonstrate very dramatically to the public that this is not a partisan issue is that we found the ideal spokesperson in Martin Sheen," Carlson said. "That drives our message home." Martens said her organization has not considered political leanings in the debate. "This is a personal issue," she said. The Coalition Against Assisted Suicide first contacted Sheen about two weeks ago, Carlson said. Sheen donated his time -- about half a day -- but Carlson's group paid between $20,000 and $30,000 for studio time for Sheen to create the ads. The group is spending about $750,000 to run the ads on radio and television stations statewide, Carlson said. That's the majority of their total budget of about $1.2 million. The ads will continue to run as long as the group can afford to buy air time, Carlson said. Reporter Krista J. Kapralos: 425-339-3422 or kkapralos@heraldnet.com. READER COMMENTS Log in or register to post new comment | Log out Compassion in the Final Hours Hiring Martin Sheen to represent opposition to I-1000 Washington's Death with Dignity Act is a pretty low blow when the Yes on 1000 people are using real people who are local citizens to tell their stories. Why rely on a Hollywood actor? To spread inaccuracies about this proposed law. Initiative 1000 is about choice, it is not about anyone who doesn't want this choice to be forced to participate. There are sixteen safeguards in place, there is data from ten years of the law in Oregon. It has been endorsed by former Governors Booth Gardner, Gary Locke & Dan Evans who is a Republican BTW. There are illnesses such as pancreatic cancer, bone cancer, stomach cancer, and some types of lung cancer in which the pain simply cannot be quelled. I have given a year of my life to work without pay for this law because I saw my mother suffer, at the end of her life, in a way she never want another to have to endure. She wanted a death with dignity, to be given the option so many give their family dog, a way out when the quality of life is gone and quantity of life seems absurd, when someone is suffering and crying for a way out. An option that is currently not legal and is accessible to only those who are properly connected. This law will make this option accessible to all who want it who qualify without fear of legal prosecution. This law is for terminally ill patients who are at the end of their lives, this law makes it a private matter, and the independently spirited people of Washington will vote YES no matter what lies a Hollywood actor tells them. I am voting YES on 1000 to allow those who want end of life choice to have it without the violent brutality of taking their life with a hand gun and leaving that image in the minds of their loved ones. K Kennell | Oct 2, 2008 2:40 pm | 0 replies | View all | Post reply | Request removal I-1000 is bad medicine A physician's mission is to cure, not to kill. I-1000 is contradictory to that mission. The Washington State Medical Association opposes I-1000. The American Medical Association and medical associations in 49 states oppose assisted suicide. Even the Oregon State Medical Association, after originally remaining neutral on the issue, later supported a repeal of Oregon's physician-assisted suicide law, stating that it was "seriously flawed." I-1000 doesn't even require that a disinterested person witness the death. Theresa Schrempp | Oct 1, 2008 10:47 pm | 0 replies | View all | Post reply | Request removal (No heading) I can’t imagine that there is anyone out there who has any opposition at all to the concept of death with dignity. I strongly object to the deceptive way that proponents of Assisted Suicide try to link their proposed legislation with any sort of dignity at all. Some argue that death is a personal decision but few realize that sadly, suicide is already legal in the state of WA. Now Assisted Suicide intends to allow other people to participate in ending a human life, and then, unbelievably, calls for the sealing of the records from possible independent study or verification. In addition, according to I-1000, the lethal overdose will never be listed as the cause of death, thereby requiring a false and deceptive cause of death to be indicated on the death certificate. Suicide is so often referred to as a cry for help. Why is it now being presented to us as a medical alternative? Look at places like the Netherlands and Oregon. Abuses of the Assisted Suicide/Euthanasia laws in those places are rampant, underreported and under prosecuted. The sick and elderly deserve our love and compassion. Whether rich, middle-class or poor, they deserve a reasonable standard of care and medication to ease their pain in their last days. Initiatives like this one convey that the sick and the elderly are only a burden to society. Take the time to read I-1000 on the internet. It is a bad law for so many reasons. Focus on the language and the obvious gaps that do nothing to protect the terminally ill person or his/her family members. No one lives in a vacuum. Suicide, assisted or not, has a huge, negative, long lasting impact on the lives of the people left behind. Before you vote yes for I-1000 in November, be sure you understand what is allowed under this proposed law. Recognize that you could be signing a future death warrant for yourself or for someone you love. Tracey Yackley | Oct 1, 2008 10:13 pm | 0 replies | View all | Post reply | Request removal I-1000 Fails The Smell Test Something smells really fishy about the I-1000 Initiative, assisted suicide. Did anyone else notice this odor, too? I first noticed several things about it that did not add up. First, someone is throwing away a LOT of money to get this thing passed, and they are doing a really bang up job of marketing it to us, like some kind of breath mints. Are they doing it for a truly virtuous purpose? Well that depends on whose interests are being pursued. People don’t just spend $2.5 Million dollars for nothing. This is an investment. You can bet they want something for their money and they are interested enough in getting it that they are lobbying the public for it. Is it the families of the terminally ill that are behind this? Could be, but I doubt it. There aren’t enough of them and they aren’t organized or well funded to do it by themselves. Our government isn’t sponsoring it. It’s a post turtle. You know, the soon-to-be-famous turtle sitting on a post in the middle of the country? (You know it didn’t get there by itself, it doesn’t belong there, it doesn’t know what to do when it gets there, and you just feel sorry for it being there.) Given the way We The People are being lately suckered by shock therapy promulgated from top corporations and financial interests lately into voting for unpopular and toxic measures that are represented to us as desperate emergencies that we do not have time to really consider carefully (Iraq, 9/11, gas prices, and now the threatened new Great Depression), we ought to sniff twice or more at whatever is being sold to us, and be very suspicious of where corporations and lobbyists are trying to lead us into the fledgling Corporate State. Who really benefits from assisted suicide, enough to invest in such a determined campaign? One possibility is the insurance companies. I don’t know this for a fact, but they do have the kind of money that could support this effort, and they are purely driven by economics, not by moral virtue. Usually profits and money drives these things. They would benefit because it would be more economically profitable for them to merely pay for suicide instead of paying to give an insured person a break that would keep them alive. Many people are starting to realize this, like Martin Sheen and reader Tom Gaines above. Doctors know this, and all the medical societies has come out to say they don’t want to give HMO’s any more power to practice medicine. I think this makes a lot more sense than the theory that there are wonderful people out there with $2.5 Million dollars to throw around just to save someone pain that doctors know how to treat and control anyway. Instead of I-1000, we need quality affordable health care reform like the rest of the world. I am against it because I am a senior parent of a charming adult autistic child, who we raised from birth at home and provided with quality care. The state has inserted itself in our family and appointed a guardian for her that she does not need, and placed her in less expansive care for the state. We are still fighting it. If our economy tanks, they could decide, as they did in Germany in the 1930’s, that she is a useless bread gobbler costing the state too much money, and can be offed. I see I-1000 as a bad idea and first step down that slippery slope. If you know history, you know the outcome of where this is all going. PLEASE Washington voters, vote no on I-1000, so it can’t spread anywhere else. Jeffrey Golin | Oct 1, 2008 5:40 pm | 0 replies | View all | Post reply | Request removal (No heading) Suicide is never the answer. "Compassion" actually means "to suffer with." The reason we're all here together is to learn with, celebrate with, and suffer with each other; it's not to encourage our desperate, depressed loved ones to miss out on the closure that happens for all involved in the final days. Let's be present to those who are dying and help them to live well to the end! Otherwise the "right to die" will lead to a "duty to die." Pam Gunderson | Oct 1, 2008 3:20 pm | 2 replies | View all | Post reply | Request removal Assisted Suicide This is a personal issue and a personal issue only. No other individual than the patient, their doctor, and their loved ones has any business making this decision for them; I should say, FORCING this decision on them. Until Martin Sheen, and the foes of this bill, can tell me they have sat and watched a loved one suffering unimaginable pain with no hope of relief, not until they can look me in the eye and tell me honestly they would deny that son, husband, sister, mother, the right to die on their own terms would I ever be swayed by any argument this kind of arrogance produces. That Martin Sheen has chosen to lend his name to this deep violation of human dignity is obscene, I don't care what his religion is - keep it to yourself Mr. Sheen. This decision is so private and so sacred that there should never have been any discussion about it at all at the political OR public level. Cheryl Fontaine | Oct 1, 2008 8:20 am | 1 replies | View all | Post reply | Request removal Assisted suicide foes find ally in Martin Seen I-1000 would legalize assisted suicide and redefine suicide as a medical treatment. It would allow doctors to order lethal drug overdoses to people with life-limiting illnesses, even if they are depressed. Nothing stops HMO’s and healthcare providers from using assisted suicide to cut costs. I-1000 lacks real protection for people suffering from depression and mental illness. People who are diagnosed with a life-limiting illness often become depressed. This depression is usually temporary and treatable. I-1000 does not require assessment or treatment for depression. [I-1000, Section 6]. Because the waiting period is only 15 days, a suicidal "cry for help" could be met with a bottle of lethal drugs, instead of encouragement and treatment. I-1000 harms spouses and families. Under I-1000, a spouse or family member need not be told about the lethal overdose. [I-1000, Section 8]. Families might never know the truth of how their loved one died. I-1000 endangers vulnerable people. I-1000's backers promote it as being about choice and individualized decision making. But as written, I-1000 does not empower patients. It provides an incentive for health plans to cut costs by steering people toward assisted suicide. I-1000 does not provide adequate safeguards to protect women, minorities, seniors and people with low incomes The people of Washington can already choose to refuse any medical treatment they don't want. They can already choose to receive good end-of-life and hospice care, excellent pain control, and the relief of discomfort. The people of Washington need quality end-of-life care, not the lethal drug overdose I-1000 prescribes. Tom Gaines | Oct 1, 2008 9:38 am | 1 replies | View all | Post reply | Request removal

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