Says PeaceHealth acted without doctors

LETTER - THE BELLINGHAM HERALD

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PeaceHealth, a Catholic institution, states that complying with Initiative 1000 would be against its values. These may or may not be the values of the 97 PeaceHealth physicians. Those I have spoken with were not asked their opinion on this issue or even notified of this policy decision by PeaceHealth. They read about it in The Bellingham Herald like everyone else. It certainly does not represent the values of the 58 percent of Whatcom County voters who approved Initiative 1000.

With the Madrona acquisition last summer, PeaceHealth now employs most of the internists and all of the medical cancer specialists in Whatcom County. It also controls Whatcom Hospice. Especially troublesome to me is the decision to forbid PeaceHealth physicians from sending terminal patients to another physician for assistance in dying. This amounts to a "gag order."

I am personally ambivalent about Initiative 1000. I do not foresee myself ever writing a lethal prescription. However, I think this must be a matter of conscience between dying patients and their physicians. PeaceHealth has pre-empted that exercise of conscience by imposing their religious beliefs on the rest of us. I am not ambivalent about that.