LETTER: The right to die on one’s own terms

In response to Victor Joecks’s Wednesday column concerning his problem with euthanasia: He is dead wrong.

I’m 76 and in good health. If things change, and I am faced with imminent death from a medical condition, why should I not have the right to determine when I leave this life, surrounded and supported by friends and family? If Mr. Joecks believes we do not have “medical aid in dying,” he is wrong. I have witnessed the death of my parents and in-laws, blitzed out of their minds on morphine, not knowing where they were or who was with them. I do not want to die that way, and I don’t want to have to leave Nevada to die with dignity.

Mr. Joecks complains that we haven’t killed an incarcerated person on death row in two decades because we don’t have the drugs. We could get them, if we wanted. He is correct that the government is not in the business of being compassionate. He is concerned that legislation allowing such self-determination is a “slippery slope” to abuse. New legislation for social change is usually fraught with the potential for abuse. That is why such legislation must be very restrictive in its application.

That such legislation has been passed a number of times is an indication that this is the will of the people. If Mr. Joecks were truly concerned about such legislation, then he should critique it and make suggestions to allay his concerns. Gov. Joe Lombardo, who thinks this legislation “is unnecessary,” is wrong. I hope he will talk to proponents, consider the merits and re-consider his position.