To the Editor:

I am a doctor in Oregon, where physician assisted-suicide is legal. I understand that New York’s legislature is considering taking a similar step.

I was first exposed to this issue in 1982, shortly before my first wife died of cancer. We had just visited her doctor. As we were leaving, he had suggested that she overdose herself on medication.

I still remember the look of horror on her face. She said, “Ken, he wants me to kill myself.”

Our assisted-suicide law was passed in 1997. In 2000, one of my patients was adamant she would use our law. Over several visits, I stalled her and ultimately convinced her to be treated instead. Fifteen years later, she is thrilled to be alive.

In Oregon, the combination of assisted-suicide legalization and prioritized medical care based on prognosis has created a danger for my patients on the Oregon Health Plan (Medicaid).  Helpful treatments are often not covered. The plan will cover the patient’s suicide.

For more details, please read my affidavit filed on behalf of the Canadian government at http://maasdocuments.files.wordpress.com/2012/09/signed-stevens-aff-9-18-12.pdf

Protect your health care.  Tell your legislators to vote no on assisted-suicide.

Kenneth Stevens, M.D.

Sherwood, Oregon

Editor’s note: Three states — Oregon first, in 1997, Washington in 2009, and Vermont in 2013 — have passed laws to allow lethal prescriptions for terminally ill adults. There is currently a bill in both the New York State Senate and Assembly called the End-of-Life Options Act “to make aid in dying an open, legitimate option for terminally ill individuals in New York State.” The Enterprise wrote about the bill on April 9, 2015 and editorialized on the subject in its next edition, on April 16.