The District of Columbia’s medical aid-in-dying bill may become law soon. The Death with Dignity Act was transmitted by the D.C. Council to the House and Senate; now, people, including religious groups, are debating it.
Though Congress can still vote to overturn the law or try to defund it, overriding D.C.’s laws becomes more difficult after they go into effect.
If it survives, D.C. will become the 7th jurisdiction to authorize medical aid in dying for terminally ill people.
The District of Columbia joins California, Colorado, Montana, Oregon, Washington and Vermont. And while it is true that opponents want to defund and overturn the law, no funding is required for the law to go into effect. Terminally ill patients, in D.C., would now be able to legally get medical aid in dying. Doctors would be able to prescribe appropriate medications, under the law, without fear of prosecution.
Various religious groups and Republicans have voiced their opinion against this law, with one group of preachers calling it evil. I, personally, see nothing wrong with it. It states terminally ill patients.
If we are talking about my life, and if I am in my right mind, then I deserve and should have the right to make that decision, not politicians or religious groups. I disagree with the National Black Church Institute’s stand against this law. If someone in my family, or me for that matter, is in pain or terminal ill and nothing can be done to cure the illness or stop the pain, then I must have the right to die, if I choose.
The bible says suicide is a sin, but is this suicide? It’s not like a healthy person jumping off a bridge or shooting themselves. God gives us all Free Will and gave us a mind to decide for ourselves. That means that God is telling politicians and religious groups that he did not put them there to make decisions for the terminally ill. Yes, they can give their views, but they should never have the right or power to block my Free Will. I need to say that again. God did not give politicians or preachers the right to block my Free Will.
I’ve witnessed people in comas for years before they die. I’ve seen people loaded with painkillers, in order for them to live a few days. I’ve watched people cry out in pain, asking for mercy, for God or someone to stop the pain; that is the case in most late stages of cancer and heart attacks, just to mention the two biggies.
Life or death decisions should be left to the person. And if they are in no condition to make decisions, then the nearest family member, not politicians, doctors or preachers. They aren’t the ones in pain. And nobody can tell me that God is a merciful God, yet, he has no compassion for people living in pain and suffering. It’s easy for preachers to say people should depend on God’s grace and mercy when it’s not them or their wife, husband, child, mother, father or other loved one suffering.
These preachers actually called the people supporting this law evil. Hopefully none of them, or their family members, will come down with a terminal illness, because if they do, I wonder how many will be singing, “How I want to go to heaven to live with the King (Jesus Christ),” just one of many songs talking about dying and going to meet the Lord.
I don’t know about dying with dignity, but I do know that we need to stop the pain and suffering. And if death is the only way, then death it is. Let that individual face God and the two of them can determine who was right.
Public safety diversity
The city of Pittsburgh Department of Public Safety is becoming a national model for diversity. I think?
When I first came to this city in the early ‘70s, police Sargent Harvey Adams Jr., the then-local NAACP president, was leading a massive campaign to get more Blacks and women hired as police and fire officers, and even though they started it, all Blacks were not being hired as Emergency Service officers.
The recent Public Safety promotions of Amera Gilchrist to assistant EMS chief, Lavonnie Bickerstaff to assistant chief of police and Eric Holmes to executive officer marks a positive point in Mayor Bill Peduto’s commitment to diversity in city government, especially to public safety.
Congratulations goes out to Gilchrist, Bickerstaff and Holmes, as well as the other Blacks promoted during 2016.
Congratulations also goes out to the Allderdice boys basketball team for winning their fourth consecutive City League championship with a 71-70 triple overtime victory over Obama Academy. And not to be outdone, the Obama Academy girls team won their fourth consecutive City League championship, 64-53, over Allderdice.
Obama also won the middle school girls division, and U-Prep won the boys.
(Ulish Carter is the managing editor of the New Pittsburgh Courier.)
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