Vote No on Amendment 1
Editor, News-Register:
My submission is in regard to Pat McGeehan’s commentary of October 27th to the News Register. I feel his article is misleading and plays on fear, not rational thinking. Amendment One is a danger to every health care worker in the state of WV.
Amendment One is a vote of no confidence for those dedicated caregivers who provide help and comfort to patients. No one works in health care to harm people. Who are these doctors referred to as prescribing “suicide pills”? What are these pills? I have never heard of them. Where is the pharmacy who fills this prescription? What insurance company has called a patient or written a letter suggesting the ingestion of these “pills” as an alternative to expensive treatment? They don’t exist!
Necessary medicine for pain and anxiety are prescribed and dispensed every day. Under Amendment One, anyone helping a patient obtain these could fall under scrutiny, including family members, not to mention health care providers and pharmacies. This would be a real shame. In my work as a nurse for nearly five decades, what I have witnessed is a collaboration of health professionals to ensure patients get the care and comfort needed to continue life, not to end it due to expense. If this is what you are referring to as “suicide pills”, you are doing a great disservice to those who are living with intractable pain and those who prescribe them.
Thankfully, there are caring and professional health care providers doing the right thing every day for those they have dedicated their lives to. Let’s keep them practicing in the state and not set them up for possible consequences of doing what Mr. McGeehan suggests they might do. Vote AGAINST Amendment One.
Rebecca Scott
Dallas