Anna Eshoo: “the bill before us makes a clear statement that Congress does not support the use of Federal funds to directly or…”

“the bill before us makes a clear statement that Congress does not support the use of Federal funds to directly or indirectly support assisted suicide. We heard testimony in the Health and Environment Subcommittee in support of this view and certainly in the full committee. In fact, the bill is a restatement of present Federal policy. Not a penny of Federal dollars is spent in support of assisted suicide. I think it is very important for the American people to understand this. We are not correcting something. We are simply restating Federal policy here today. However, in the committee we also heard clear testimony that the current state of dying and care for the dying is inadequate. Pain management is insufficient. Palliative care generally is lacking. The American Medical Association gave testimony and even announced that they have launched a new initiative to better educate their doctors on care of the terminally ill in their final days. During the full committee consideration of the legislation, I offered an amendment to address this problem based on the testimony that we had received. It simply stated that Federal health programs should have guidelines in place for appropriate palliative and pain management care of terminally ill beneficiaries. Unfortunately, the amendment failed.”