LIFE DIGEST: Cancer drug no, assisted suicide yes, Oregon says
- Jun 9, 2008 - comment
Barbara Wagner discovered recently her state would not cover chemotherapy for her lung cancer but would underwrite her death by physician-assisted suicide.
Wagner, 64, received notice in May the Oregon Health Plan, which provides health-care coverage for about 380,000 low-income residents monthly, had refused to cover the drug prescribed by her oncologist when her cancer recurred, according to The Eugene (Ore.) Register-Guard. She was told, however, it would cover assisted suicide as part of palliative, or pain relief, care.
The notification the health plan would cover assisted suicide especially disturbed Wagner.
“To say to someone, we’ll pay for you to die, but not pay for you to live, it’s cruel,” she told The Register-Guard. “I get angry. Who do they think they are?”
Bioethics specialist Wesley Smith said this should come as no shock in Oregon, where assisted suicide has been legal since 1997.
“We have been warning for years that this was a possibility in Oregon,” Smith wrote on the weblog Bioethics.com. “Medicaid is rationed, meaning that some treatments are not covered. But assisted suicide is always covered.
“This isn’t the first time this has happened either. A few years ago a patient who needed a double organ transplant was denied the treatment but would have been eligible for state-financed assisted suicide.”
Fortunately for Wagner, another institution came to her aid. A representative of the pharmaceutical firm that markets the drug she had been prescribed called June 2 to tell her the company would provide it without charge, The Register-Guard reported.
Habitat backs out of deal with Planned Parenthood
An affiliate of Habitat for Humanity has decided to nix a deal with Planned Parenthood.
The Sarasota, Fla., board of the Christian housing ministry voted June 3 to refuse the local Planned Parenthood affiliate’s offer to sell it land for $10 on which to build three homes. The arrangement would have enabled Planned Parenthood to meet a city occupancy requirement that buildings be constructed on the property between the clinic’s parking lot and a street, according to the Sarasota Herald-Tribune.
The Habitat affiliate backed out of the agreement in response to pressure from donors and not because of a philosophical disagreement with Planned Parenthood, the newspaper reported. “It was a lot of pressure on Habitat International,” said Habitat’s Sarasota director, Tony Souza, according to the Herald-Tribune. “When donors start pulling out, money talks.”
Duane Bates, director of public and media relations for Habitat International, said in a written statement the Sarasota board “has declined a donation of land from Planned Parenthood, stating that accepting the land ‘would not be in the best interests of our ongoing work in the community, the families we seek to serve or the broad Habitat for Humanity community.’ Habitat for Humanity of Sarasota is an independent, autonomous affiliate that is governed by a local board of directors that establishes policies at the local level.”
American Life League (ALL) led the successful effort to convince Habitat to reject Planned Parenthood’s offer after it learned of the agreement in May. “Planned Parenthood is a controversial organization and that controversy will transfer to any group associated with Planned Parenthood,” said ALL Vice President Jim Sedlak in a written statement.
Planned Parenthood Federation of America is the country’s leading abortion provider. Its affiliates performed nearly 290,000 abortions in 2006.
Habitat for Humanity partners with low-income families to build new homes or refurbish old ones at below-market prices.
Louisiana Senate bans funds for cloning
The Louisiana Senate voted unanimously June 3 to prohibit state funding of all human cloning.
The 36-0 roll call appears to settle the proposal’s fate. The House of Representatives already had approved a similar measure, although it will need to vote on the slightly different Senate version, according to the Associated Press. Gov. Bobby Jindal, a Republican, already had endorsed the legislation.
The measure not only bars human cloning to produce a live birth, typically referred to as reproductive cloning, but cloning to produce an embryo for experimentation, known as research cloning. In the latter, stem cells are extracted typically from a five- or six-day-old embryo, which results in the destruction of the tiny human being.
Stem cells are the body’s master cells that can develop into other cells and tissues, giving hope for the development of cures for a variety of diseases and other ailments. While embryonic stem cells have failed to produce treatments in human beings, stem cells from non-embryonic sources—such as umbilical cord blood, placentas, fat and bone marrow—have produced treatments for at least 73 human ailments, according to Do No Harm, a coalition promoting ethics in research.
South Carolina governor signs ultrasound law
South Carolina has enacted legislation that requires a woman be given the opportunity to view an ultrasound image of her baby at least an hour before an abortion.
Gov. Mark Sanford, a Republican, officially signed the bill into law May 29 after holding a signing ceremony two weeks before, according to LifeNews.com.
The law requires a doctor to do a sonogram on any woman who is estimated to be at least 14 weeks pregnant and to inform her of her right to view the ultrasound, according to the National Right to Life Committee (NRLC). She must confirm in writing she has been given the opportunity to see the sonogram, NRLC reported.
South Carolina became the 14th state to provide for a doctor to offer a woman the chance to see an ultrasound of her unborn child, according to NRLC. In addition, Arizona and Florida require sonograms with all abortions past 12 weeks, but the woman must ask to view the ultrasound, NRLC reported.
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