By Stephen Smoot
In an election cycle with few close races, West Virginia voters did narrowly pass one important measure. Amendment One, as it was called, will elevate the current statutory prohibition against medically assisted suicide to that of a state Constitutional amendment.
The amendment was backed by six term House of Delegates member Pat McGeehan, who represents Hancock County in District 1 and also serves as dean of a private school.
McGeehan cited two reasons for backing the measure. In an opinion article released on Oct 10, he centered his argument on the fate of those seeking expensive treatments in states that allow legally assisted suicide. One case, that of a great-grandmother in Oregon, found the insurance company refusing to cover treatment for advanced lung cancer that would extend her life. In the same letter, they offered to cover assisted suicide.
He then cited multiple other examples of this occurring in such states. McGeehan wrote of this that “when medically assisted suicide is legalized, it immediately becomes the cheapest treatment. Advocates of medically assisted suicide argue it allows people to “Die with Dignity.” But, what could be more undignified than having one’s life weighed in the spreadsheets of health insurance providers?”
In most cases, McGeehan explained, suicidal thoughts come not from a desire to end life, but to end suffering. He went on to say “Suicide attempts don’t simply seek out death. They give expression to misery. They cry out for help. They seek an end, not to life, but to suffering, shame and depression. By bringing these buried miseries into the light, suicide attempts often motivate the loving intervention of family, friends, neighbors and the medical community. In most suicide attempts, it is life and not death that has the final word.”
He also argued that medically assisted suicide counters the normal advice given to loved ones caring for a person considering suicide. “When a loved one expresses a desire to kill
themselves,” he states, “we are counseled to restrict their access to “lethal means” — to hide medication and firearms. But in places like California, an incredible “lethal means” — a cocktail of poisons, sedatives and painkillers known as DDMA or DDMP — is mailed to their home.
Other countries’ policies have often been seen as the end point of a potential slippery slope on the issue. In 2022, the European Court of Human Rights upheld the Kingdom of Belgium’s practice of accepting euthanasia requests from those suffering only from mental, not physical, illness. Though still controversial there, Canada plans to introduce the same policy in 2027 when they state their medical community has the proper capabilities.
McGeehan cites a statistic that seems to counter the rationale for assisted suicide for the mentally ill, saying “The British Journal of Psychiatry found most people who survive suicide
do not attempt to kill themselves again: ‘nine out of 10 people who attempt suicide and survive
will not go on to die by suicide at a later date.’”
The American Civil Liberties Union unsuccessfully campaigned against the Amendment, saying “cynically, the proposed amendment concludes by stating that this does not prohibit the practice of capital punishment. The West Virginia Legislature, regardless of whether controlled by the Democratic or Republican Party, has not given serious consideration to legalizing capital punishment in West Virginia, which the ACLU also pointed out.
The ACLU also stated that the state should allow for “death with dignity” since “we already boast one of the oldest and sickest populations in the nation.” They accused McGeehan and other supporters of “an attempt to create a wedge issue to turn out certain voting blocks (sic)”