Death with Dignity Act

In response to Angie Vogt’s commentary (“Assisted suicide is a dying movement,” Aug. 2):

I dare you call me one of those people “who parachuted in from out of state” to work full time as a volunteer to pass Initiative 1000 — Washington’s Death with Dignity Act.

Not only do you insult me with the comment, but the many people ages 70-plus who fought for this law in 1991 who are back working hard to pass it to bring options to others unable to work in this vital choice movement.

Evidently you don’t understand that medical science can’t quell the pain of bone cancer, stomach cancer and pancreatic cancer, to name a few I am familiar with. Indeed, palliative care is wonderful when it works and provides comfort to the terminal patient, but there is no ease for those with these ailments.

In Oregon in the 10 years since Oregon voters passed this law twice, there have been about 1,000 people who have qualified for the self-administered medication. Of those, only about 300 actually did end their lives this way. Opponents throw out the red herring that the law is so that we can get rid of grandma. Well, I’d invite you to see that most of the checks we have received for this campaign are from people who are retired and want this right to control their end as they have lived their lives with dignity and control.

You can hardly count how many adult children have signed up to volunteer whose fathers have ended their lives violently with a gun instead of facing a steady decline. These people were forced to die alone and violently, leaving the family to find them and clean up the horrid mess and image that haunts many to this day.

It’s quality of life that people seek, not quantity of life.

It’s about choice. If this is not what you choose, you don’t have to apply for this option should you face such a diagnosis.

Volunteers from all over the state gathered more than 170,000 signatures for this to qualify for the November ballot. Polls show that Washingtonians are ready for choice at end of life.

This law is for terminally ill patients, not for people who have any chance of recovery.

Please study the proposed law, read the safeguards, absorb the data from Oregon and quit calling people whose families have been in the Pacific Northwest for over 100 years who support this law interlopers from elsewhere.

We are natives and we are proud to support dignity in life and dignity in death.

Kay Kennell

Seattle

Kudos to local writer

Congratulations are due to Federal Way resident David McKenzie, whose first place finish in the Western category of the 2008 Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest has been announced.

No matter at what current level of their craft, area writers can all find inspiration in this award-winning member of our community whose story certainly deserves an invitation by the City of Federal Way Arts Commission for a future appearance at their annual Writers Conference.

Mizu Sugimura

Federal Way