Point: Bill would rob families of time with loved ones

Democratic Representative Harriet Drummond is trying to get Alaska to pass a bill that would give terminally ill patients the right to end their own lives. Drummond said that it’s not suicide but rather an option for those already dying. I do not think Alaskans should support this bill.

Although Drummond stated that it is not suicide, that is not the case. According to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary website, suicide is “the act or an instance of taking one’s own life voluntarily and intentionally especially by a person of years of discretion and of sound mind.” Suicide is the act of taking your life because you do not wish to continue living.

According to the Death With Dignity National Center’s website, public approval nationwide of euthanasia is “hovering at 75%.” However, while many bills concerning euthanasia are drafted each year in the United States, most fail. I think that many of the bills are failing because, although the majority of people agree with the idea of the bill, they are not willing to support the law because they are leery of making suicide legal even in extreme cases.

Personally, I have had major experiences with a family friend dying of cancer and a grandfather who is dying of Alzheimer’s.

Shelly Copling of Lebanon, Missouri, died of cancer on May 13, 2013, at her home. She had been suffering with the disease for nearly two months before it claimed her life. Copling was taken to the hospital in the surrounding Lebanon area to receive care. My parents visited her while she was in the hospital, and our family helped keep up their landscaping. She was brought back to her home and lived the rest of her days in her room.

Copling would have been a candidate to use euthanasia; however, if the option were given to her, her family would not have supported her using it because they treasured their limited time with Shelly.

Copling’s husband, Don, said that Shelly would “absolutely not” have chosen euthanasia over life, no matter how long she had left to live. Copling enjoyed her life and loved her family. She especially loved to spend time with her new, baby granddaughter.

During her last days, Copling was unable to take care of herself, but her family was always there with her. Although people standing outside of their situation may have thought it would have been better for her to commit suicide if it would have been an option, the family cherished every moment they spent with her, right to the end.

My grandfather has Alzheimer’s and has been suffering with the disease for several years. At the beginning, it seemed like normal memory loss, typical of elderly people. Now he is 76 years old, and the signs of Alzheimer’s are very evident in his life. He forgets nearly everything you tell him and he displays childish behavior if he doesn’t get his way. Before he began to show signs of the disease, he was a very intelligent and caring man.

Alzheimer’s is not nearly as mentally painful for the injured party as it is for the close family. The patient rarely realizes what is happening to them while the family must watch them slowly, and then more progressively, deteriorate.

In spite of my grandfather’s illness, no member of our family would choose to end his life early. My family has enjoyed, and does enjoy, every moment we spend with my grandfather, despite his severe mental decline. We would not support his decision to commit suicide because as Christians, we believe that God alone has the right to allow death or life.

According to the Alzheimer’s Association website, an estimated 5.3 million people in the United States suffer from Alzheimer’s.

If the right-to-die bill is passed, what would stop other legislators from passing similar bills that would allow families to “dispose of” their mentally incompetent family members, as Alzheimer’s is a terminal illness?

Danae Mitchell is a freshman at Mat-Su Central School.