We have just heard from a physician friend that she received a call this morning from a survey group clearly hired by the extremely well-funded proponents of assisted suicide and clearly designed to elicit answers that will allow them to tell Senators at the upcoming hearing on PAS that Vermonters support this dangerous initiative.
You could receive this call any minute. Please be aware of it and careful to answer in ways that make your opposition to assisted suicide perfectly clear and incapable of manipulation. Tell all your friends who oppose this to beware and be clear. Vermonters do not support allowing our doctors to dispense prescriptions for barbiturates and instructions on how to use them to commit suicide to anyone.
In italics below, reconstructed to the best of her ability are our friend’s impressions of the call, with our comments in red:
It was not aimed at physicians
Asked about income
Age
Would you vote in state elections in VT
Would you vote for someone who supported this right
Party affiliation
Church affiliation ( I refused to answer) You should refuse to answer. This is an attempt to gather evidence that opposition to assisted suicide is confined to religious people who are trying to impose their views on others.
Do you go to church ….more than once a week, once a week etc ( I refused to answer) You should refuse to answer.
Long question about the efforts in Vt to improve palliative care and pain control at end of life and make all options available to persons at end of life, would I support the right of a terminally , mentally competent …. Person to take a medication that would end his/her suffering. Please answer NO. If you answer yes to this question, even if you try to explain that you are referring to palliative pain medication that may unintentionally hasten death, your answer will be listed as a yes to assisted suicide. .
Next question was more tricky – Would I support a person’s right to do what they wanted without government or church interference ( very paraphrased ) The way it was worded , I could easily answered yes if I was distracted or at all hard of hearing. Please answer NO. Surveys do not allow for nuanced answers. A yes even with qualifications will be presented as a yes to assisted suicide.