Last year, while lamenting the push toward legalized assisted suicide, we said, "The path that leads to assisted suicide is a dangerous one to tread. What is designed to end the life of the terminally ill today could evolve into something far more heinous tomorrow."
Welcome to tomorrow.
Television viewers in two Oregon cities, Eugene and Springfield, will be able to watch a program this week that details how to commit suicide. The 34-minute video was created by British journalist Derek Humphry and is based on his book on suicide for the terminally ill, "Final Exit."
This is disturbing, of course, because it could have a profound effect on both the terminally ill and on anyone suffering from depression or otherwise contemplating an end to life. They will learn which drugs to buy and how to mix them into a convenient pudding that provides a fatal consequence.
How tragic, particularly when viewed in the light of this statement by Pamela Cavallo, a National MS Society staff member: "Many people who say they want to hasten death really want help with living . . . the idea that people might choose to die when they have a treatable condition like depression or because they can't afford health care is unacceptable." She's right.
A Portland psychiatrist quoted in an Associated Press story said the risk of such a presentation is that it tells suicidal people how to be effective in killing themselves. At present, most first-time suicide attempts fail.
Even more dangerous is the devaluing message such a television show sends to people. It covertly suggests that suicide is OK. For anyone on the edge, including distraught teenagers too immature to understand their emotional struggles, this could push them over.
The video includes instructions on how to buy items that are available over-the-counter or at hardware stores, and how to get prescription drugs. It details relatively painless ways to end life. It even offers advice on how to keep clear of the law and deal with the aftermath.
A co-producer of the program defended her station's action this way: "I think it's a central role of the media to provide complete and accurate information to the public that they may need to make those hard decisions in their lives."
The media also has a duty to be responsible. The two stations in question are using terrible judgment. While what they are doing is not illegal, it is unconscionable.
The stations say they will issue warnings about the video's contents to prevent immature viewers from watching it. That's like using flowers to ward off bees. The only sure way to keep people from watching it is not to air it at all.
The American Medical Association wisely opposes assisted suicide because it is antithetical to a physician's role as a healer. Assisted suicide distorts the role of physicians and is an assault on the sanctity of life. If society allows itself to become more accepting of such a thing, it can expect a downward spiral of ethical rationalizations until life has no official value at all.