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Suicide” Is Inaccurate, Biased Term to Describe Terminally-Ill Patients’ End-Of-Life Choices Public Opinion & Medical Experts Urge Media to Adopt Neutral Terms

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Suicide” Is Inaccurate, Biased Term to Describe Terminally-Ill Patients’ End-Of-Life Choices Public Opinion & Medical Experts Urge Media to Adopt Neutral Terms “Suicide” is Inaccurate, Biased Term to Describe Terminally-Ill Patients’ End-of-Life Choices Public Opinion & Medical Experts Urge Media to Adopt Neutral Terms PRESS KIT Why it’s Wrong To Refer to “Aid-In-Dying” as “Suicide” • Terminally ill people who want the choice of aid in dying do not want to die but, by definition, they are dying. They are facing an imminent, inevitable death and they simply want the option to avoid unbearable suffering. • “Suicide” is hurtful and derogatory term to both a dying patient and the patient’s loved ones. It conjures images of irrational, depressed teenagers, adults with mental illness, and terrorist bombers. It suggests guns and violence. It suggests the patient is choosing death over life. • Cancer patient Char Andrews told the National Press Club, it is “an insult” to her fight against her illness to call the choice she wants “suicide.” • Cancer patient Jack Newbold told reporters that he resented media reports announcing that he was going to kill himself. “I am not committing suicide, and I don’t want to die. I’m not killing myself; cancer is taking care of that.” • Recently the Oregon Department of Human Services removed all reference to “assisted suicide” from its reporting on the Oregon Death with Dignity Act. A spokesperson admitted the agency probably never should have used the term in the first place. • The Oregon Death With Dignity Act specifically states that a the ending of one’s own life under the controls and safeguards of the law is legally not a suicide. • The American Public Health Association, one of the nation’s most esteemed health care organizations, recognizing the profound difference between a typical “suicide” and the choice of a terminally ill, mentally competent adult to take life- ending medication to end suffering, has urged health educators, policy makers, journalists, and health care providers to refer to this choice in “accurate, value- neutral terms such as ‘aid in dying’ or ‘patient directed dying’.” • Increasingly, mental health professionals are describing the fundamental differences between the psychological state of a person who irrationally rejects life and the psychological state of a person who loves life and would choose it if they could, but who faces suffering and prolonged deterioration leading to inevitable death. • Finally: “suicide” is the term preferred by opponents because it is inflammatory and provokes negative reactions. Hence, it is not a neutral term. Opponents of aid- in-dying are aware that the majority of the public supports an individual’s right to end their life if suffering becomes intolerable, and so tries to reframe the debate by using inaccurate and pejorative language. FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Wednesday, September 28, 2005 CONTACT: Steve Hopcraft, 916/457-5546; [email protected] “SUICIDE” IS INACCURATE, BIASED TERM TO DESCRIBE TERMINALLY-ILL PATIENTS’ END-OF-LIFE CHOICES Public Opinion & Medical Experts Urge Media to Adopt Neutral Terms SACRAMENTO, CA – Public opinion research released today shows that use of the term “suicide” to describe the end-of-life choices of terminally-ill patients is inaccurate and biases audiences against patients and their families. “’Suicide,’ or ‘assisted-suicide,’ or ‘physician-assisted suicide’ are loaded, pejorative terms that paint terminally-ill patients in the same negative light as terrorist bombers,” Barbara Coombs-Lee, co- president of Compassion and Choices told a national news media teleconference. “’Suicide’ is inaccurate because it indicates a self-destructive act that kills a person. Fatal diseases are killing terminally ill patients, and patients are choosing to avoid a prolonged dying process. Using the term ‘suicide’ can adversely-affect patient’s life insurance and other survivors’ benefits. Suicide is a sin in many religions, and physician-assisted suicide is a crime in all states. Using the term has negative impacts on terminally ill patients, their families and survivors. It’s not accurate and it’s not fair.” Terminally ill patient Jack Newbold is facing the final days of his life. An Astoria, Oregon, sea captain, Newbold, 59, has bone marrow cancer. Newbold has obtained a lethal dose of medication under the Oregon Death with Dignity law. He told the news conference that he resented media reports that he is about to “kill” himself. “I’ve got just a few days left to live, and I don’t want to put my wife and family through a prolonged death. I’m not committing suicide, and I don’t want to die. But I am dying, and I don’t want someone dictating to me that I’ve got to lie down in some hospital bed and die in pain.” Newbold joined the teleconference from his final road trip, during which he expects to die with dignity within a few days. “I was upset by media reports that I intend to ‘kill’ myself. I’m not killing myself; cancer is taking care of that. I may take the option of shortening the agony of my final hours.” Public opinion researcher David Binder presented findings from his California research indicating that respondents found terms such as “assisted suicide” both inaccurate and biased. “Respondents have a negative impression of the term ‘assisted-suicide,’ as it carries loaded connotations that it is a crime. Patients are also insulted by this term and want a term that is more neutral, without the inherent bias,” said Binder. When asked to provide a letter grade to various terms to describe end-of-life language choices, “assisted suicide’ received a “D,” scoring only slightly ahead of ‘hastened death,” the least effective phrase tested to describe the process. Binder found that respondents scored “death with dignity,” “Right to Die,” “End of life choices,” as much more accurate descriptors. Binder’s findings correspond with a May 2005 Gallup Poll indicating that 75% of Americans support euthanasia for certain patients, but only 58% support “doctor- assisted suicide” for the same patients. Use of the term “suicide” was the only difference in the question asked. The Gallup Poll concluded, “The apparent conflict in values appears to be a consequence of mentioning, or not mentioning, the word ‘suicide’.” Dr. Peter Goodwin, an Oregon physician who is an expert on that state’s Death with Dignity, which is being challenged by the Bush Administration before the U.S. Supreme Court, presented his own views. “I have treated scores of terminally-ill patients, and not one of them wanted to die. Not one of them wanted to ‘kill’ themselves,” said Dr. Goodwin. “These patients wanted to live as long as they could experience life. They did not, however, want to prolong their deaths. As a physician, I resent the term ‘physician- assisted suicide. I have never felt I was assisting a suicidal patient, but rather aiding a patient with his or her end of life choice.” The experts asked that news media consider alternative language to the term “suicide,” and offered many other phrasings, including: Death With Dignity, Aid in Dying, Choice in Dying, End of Life Choices, Choice at the End of Life, terminally Ill Patients’ Rights, Compassionate Choices, and Choice and Control at the End of Life. #30# Excerpt from David Binder Research: “Participants agree that assisted suicide is an inaccurate phrase for the issue being discussed, with some participants arguing that the word suicide refers to a more physical and active choice like jumping off a bridge.” “I don’t believe that suicide and what we’re talking about are the same thing.” “Suicide is jumping off of a bridge.” “Suicide is something that doesn’t encompass just a choice at the end of life when one is suffering or when one is a vegetable or in excruciating pain. It can be for a number of different reasons which do not fall into this category at all.” Why it’s not “Suicide” or “Assisted-Suicide” As society considers social questions, language makes all the difference. Reporters and editors often use the term “assisted suicide” to describe a terminally ill patient receiving help to shorten a prolonged and sometimes agonizing dying process. Several research tools reveal this term is both biased and pejorative. A neutral term that more accurately reflects the conscious decision of a competent and terminally ill patient’s voluntary choice should replace it. No Life to Live “Suicide” is hurtful and derogatory term to both a dying patient and the patient’s loved ones. It conjures images of irrational, depressed teenagers, adults with mental illness, and terrorist bombers. It suggests guns and violence. It suggests the patient is choosing death over life. But the fact is the patient can’t choose life. Most patients asking for assistance in dying have exhausted all possible curative therapies and are thus left with only the manner of how death comes to them. They may choose what some call “the least worst death” but they cannot choose life. Terminally-ill patients are by definition already dying, having a probable life expectancy of six months or less. History of the Term Strict clinical distinction - Physicians originally embraced the term "physician assisted suicide" to distinguish it from euthanasia, the latter being a process in which a third party, usually a healthcare professional, brings about the patient’s death by administering a lethal dose of medication, most commonly via injection. Physicians like Drs. Timothy Quill and Marcia Angell adopted the term “physician- assisted suicide” to signify the voluntary self-administration of medication by the patient. They did not consider the effect the term might have on patients, its negative connotation among the general public, or even in churches that withhold sacraments from “suicides.” Instead, they were after a strictly clinical distinction between the patient’s own control versus the involvement of a third party.
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