Sen. Brownback Files Bill Against Assisted Suicide

From Catholic World News:

Aug. 04 (CWNews.com) - US Senator Sam Brownback yesterday introduced the Assisted Suicide Prevention Act, which would prohibit doctors from prescribing federally controlled substances for the purpose of physician-assisted suicide.

“When the law permits killing as a medical ‘treatment,’ society’s moral guidelines are blurred, and killing could gain acceptance as a solution for the chronically ill or vulnerable,” said Brownback. “Doctor-assisted suicide could actually create a financial incentive for insurance companies to encourage prematurely ending the lives of those in need of long-term care.”

Last May Brownback chaired a Senate Judiciary committee hearing to examine the impact of physician-assisted suicide in places where it has been widely practiced. Several experts testified that in countries like the Netherlands and Belgium, where assisted suicide is legal, doctors have started experimenting with euthanasia and infanticide. A September 2005 article in the British medical journal The Lancet reported that half of the newborn babies who died in Flanders, Belgium between August 1999 and July 2000 were “helped” in that regard by their doctors.

By only penalizing doctors for using a federally controlled substance for the stated or undisputed purpose of assisted suicide, and by placing the burden of proof on the federal prosecutor, the bill introduced by Senator Brownback does not constrain doctors from offering palliative care that brings pain relief to patients, even if such treatments could hasten death.

My Comments:
Electability problems or no, it's increasingly looking like Sam Brownback is about the only potential Republican candidate for President that a faithful Catholic can, in good conscience, support.