06/27/97
One man's quest drove R.I. law

By FELICE J. FREYER
Journal-Bulletin Medical Writer


When the Rhode Island General Assembly voted to make assisted suicide a felony last year, two federal appeals courts had just struck down similar bans in Washington and New York.

But momentum had gathered here for legislative action, and the possibility of a Supreme Court ruling did not appear to enter the picture.

The Assembly actually was facing two bills with opposite goals. One, filed by state Sen. John M. Roney, D-Providence, would have legalized physician-assisted suicide in narrowly defined circumstances. The other, sponsored by state Sen. Catherine E. Graziano, D-Providence, made it a crime. Graziano had filed her bill in past years without getting much attention.

It was, ironically, someone who came to bolster Roney's cause that brought Graziano's bill to the forefront. Noel David Earley, who lived in Lincoln and was dying of Lou Gehrig's disease, testified for the right to ask a doctor for the means to kill himself once his disease, which paralyzes the body but leaves the mind intact, made his life meaningless and intolerable.

Earley's campaign drew attention from around the country. But after testimony from "right to life" groups and the Catholic Church, the legislature's vote was overwhelmingly in favor of banning assisted suicide. Despite a plea from his director of health to veto the bill, Governor Almond signed it into law.

The American Civil Liberties Union has said it would challenge Rhode Island's law in federal court, but has yet to do so. Yesterday, the ACLU's Steven Brown said he would need to examine the Supreme Court rulings to determine whether they preclude such action. He also needs to ascertain to what extent the Rhode Island law differs from the New York and Washington laws that were upheld.

If the ACLU does file suit, one of the plaintiffs will be a doctor who believes it's unethical for physicians to help patients die. Dr. Herbert Rakatansky, a gastroenterologist who has served on American Medical Association ethics committees, said: "Although I oppose physician-assisted suicide, I also oppose criminalizing it. . . . It has a chilling effect upon doctors who might need to prescribe necessary medication for pain and terminal illness and might be dissuaded from using an adequate amount for fear of prosecution. . . .

"That law is wrong and does nobody any good. There are plenty of statutes against murder."

Dr. Arthur A. Frazzano, a family practitioner and former president of the Rhode Island Medical Society, also opposes the state law for those reasons. But he has personal reasons too: "As a patient, I'd like to have this opportunity [to seek assisted suicide] available to me."

Meanwhile, Roney said he planned to keep reintroducing his bill to legalize assisted suicide. "I'm not sanguine about its chances in the short term," he said, "but I believe that each time legislation is discussed and reported it gathers new adherents. . . .

"I do think there is a substantial majority of people in this state who want this legislation and hopefully they'll make their voices known."

But Maria C. Parker, lobbyist for the Respect Life Office of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Providence, laughed when she heard that Roney would file his bill again. "I have no indication that this issue is going to resurface in Rhode Island," she said.

As for Noel Earley, although he always insisted that he intended to kill himself and had the means to do so, in January he lapsed into unconsciousness and died naturally -- leaving a legacy of varying interpretations and continuing debate on the issue that energized his final days.