An ailing lobbyist wants a law to OK suicide via doctor

Longtime state political lobbyist John Radcliffe is the face and voice of the latest push to give terminally ill patients in Hawaii, like himself, the legal ability to end their lives on their own terms.

Compassion &Choices, a national nonprofit advocate organization for terminally ill patients, is behind the push. Hawaii campaign manager Mary Steiner says previous efforts to legalize physician-assisted suicide failed in part because terminally ill patients were reluctant to lobby state lawmakers. That’s not the case with Radcliffe.

Radcliffe, 74, learned 2-1/2 years ago that he has inoperable, terminal colon and liver cancer. Since then, Radcliffe says, he has undergone 42 rounds of chemotherapy to prolong his life and is scheduled for his 43rd next week.

“That’s 129 days of chemo. It tires you out. No question about that. But it’s keeping me alive,” he said.

When his pain and suffering become unbearable, Radcliffe would like to have the option to self-administer a lethal dose of medication to end his life. He has already chosen a doctor to prescribe him the medication, but he doesn’t want the doctor to face criminal prosecution.

Radcliffe and Compassion &Choices will be lobbying state lawmakers in the upcoming legislative session, which starts next week. As a backup they, along with Radcliffe’s chosen physician, retired oncologist Dr. Charles Miller, are suing to prevent Miller from being prosecuted.

They filed a lawsuit in state court Wednesday asking for a declaration that the state’s murder and manslaughter laws are unconstitutional when applied to medically assisted death and that the practice of medicine in Hawaii includes doctors helping terminally ill patients who choose to die.

“If there is protection from prosecution, there’s going to be a lot of physicians who would be more than willing and want to help patients with aid in dying,” Miller said.

But the lawsuit could take years to reach a conclusion, too long to provide Radcliffe any relief.

“And that’s why we gotta take a run at this right now,” Radcliffe said, “This case has to be won now in this Legislature.”

Compassion &Choices says a survey conducted by Anthology Research shows that 80 percent of the 603 registered Hawaii voters surveyed in November support having a medical “assisted dying” option available for others, and that 88 percent support having the option available for themselves.

Previous assisted-suicide legislation failed due to opposition based on religious and moral grounds. One medical argument that was used to defeat the legislation is that advances in pain management have lessened the suffering of terminally ill patients.

Last year an assisted-suicide bill didn’t even get a hearing. Radcliffe said that’s because the bill didn’t get any attention and that lawmakers didn’t want to have to take a position on such an emotionally charged issue leading into the election.