Scott Adams, the self-described "pro-death ignorantselfishertarian" Dilbert creator, wrote on his personal blog this weekend that his father was dying a slow and painful death and that he wishes for people who've done anything to help maintain the prohibition on doctor-assisted suicide to experience the same pain and suffering:
If you're a politician who has ever voted against doctor-assisted suicide, or you would vote against it in the future, I hate your fucking guts and I would like you to die a long, horrible death. I would be happy to kill you personally and watch you bleed out. I won't do that, because I fear the consequences. But I'd enjoy it, because you motherfuckers are responsible for torturing my father. Now it's personal… …I'm okay with any citizen who opposes doctor-assisted suicide on moral or practical grounds. But if you have acted on that thought, such as basing a vote on it, I would like you to die a slow, horrible death too. You and the government are accomplices in the torturing of my father, and there's a good chance you'll someday be accomplices in torturing me to death too.
He continues on to caution readers not to "misconstrue this post as satire or exaggeration," emphasizing that the raw emotion of the situation is fueling his anger. The post was followed by outrage and disgust from pro-life activists. Adams' father has since died.
While National Review helpfully points out that Adams' wrath targets approximately half the US population, that number should be weighed against the 62 percent of Americans who believe in a moral right to suicide when the patient is "suffering great pain with no hope of improvement." This could indicate that most Americans believe in the right to control your own life and death, but that a portion of them fear that doctor-assisted suicide might be susceptible to abuse. In fact, Adams addresses this concern near the bottom of his post:
I know that many of my fellow citizens have legitimate concerns about doctor-assisted suicide. One can certainly imagine greedy heirs speeding up the demise of grandma to get the inheritance. That would be a strong argument if doctor-assisted suicide wasn't already working elsewhere with little problems, or if good things in general (such as hospitals and the police) never came with their own risks.
For an example of some of those places where doctor-assisted suicide is working without rampant elder abuse or other horrific consequences, watch the Reason TV video below, which examined the fight for legalization in Montana.
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