My grandmother was 22 when Alice Paul drafted the Equal Rights Amendment. Grandmother lived to be 100 but struggled to survive on less than $500 a month in Social Security benefits because of her status as a farm wife. In the 1960s, my mother had to lie about how many kids she had in order to get a job to support those kids and, despite her intelligence and drive, worked in an underpaid clerical role. I am in my mid-50s and have been earning 78 cents to a man's dollar for almost 40 years. My daughter is 30, and I don't want her to face the same work and pay discrimination. The time for the ERA is now.
Gail T. Kulick, St. Paul
'COMPASSIONATE CARE ACT'
It should not pass — by any name or in any form
Dr. David B. Plimpton wrote a March 23 commentary ("Please help end needless suffering") on Senate Bill 1880 to legalize assisted suicide. He understood that the bill coming before the Minnesota Health, Human Services and Housing Committee that is focused on self-determination of the timing of one's death would proceed to the decisionmaking phase. State Sen. Kathy Sheran, the committee's chair, has now made it clear that no decision will be made this year.
As a retired physician who practiced medicine for 33 years in the St. Paul area and was active on United Hospital's ethics committee for many years, I was relieved to see that this bill is not on a fast track. This difficult issue is very susceptible to patient manipulation, as it addresses very stressful and agonizing situations and decisions.
This is why I believe that this legislation should not pass in any form. We are very fortunate in Minnesota to have excellent people like Dr. Kent Wilson and the staff of our medical society and key personnel at all of the health care organizations who have implemented the Honoring Choices form for advanced medical directives. This document, when properly done, addresses all of a patient's quality-of-life issues. It makes it mandatory that the health care agent have several discussions with the patient so that it is perfectly clear what the patient's needs and interests are and that, therefore, the family will have no guilt over the final decisions. This document is much easier to implement when the patient is actively dying, as after a severe stroke or accident or many other situations. When the prognosis is not as easily defined, it is much more humane and honest to utilize hospice and palliative care. There will still be challenges, of course, and that is why ethics committees exist.
The Senate bill dismisses the use of the phrase "physician-assisted suicide" and substitutes "aid in dying." How can you call the act of a physician signing a prescription that will, when ingested by the patient, result in the patient's death anything but physician-assisted suicide?
Dr. C. Richard Guiton, Mendota Heights
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I am writing this in part for my mother, who passed away March 10. I would like anyone who opposes the Minnesota Compassionate Care Act to understand what anyone who is terminally ill — and their families, caregivers and doctors — have to endure. My mom, at 87, spent almost two years in a nursing home. Before that, my sister, stepfather, caregiver and I took care of her at her house. She had a stroke, developed dementia, and had too many trips to the doctor and emergency room to count. The pain and suffering she endured were heartbreaking, just as it was for us to watch the complete deterioration of her health, mind, body and dignity.
I wish everyone could go to a nursing home and visit with the terminally ill. The overwhelming majority would agree that, if they could choose, they would end their suffering. My mom expressed that if she ever was in a state of terminal illness, she wanted a do-not-resuscitate order. As dementia took over, she lost 30 pounds and could not walk, talk, feed herself, swallow, bathe herself or smile. Would you want that for yourself?
