Brad Wenstrup: “I thank the chairman for yielding, and I appreciate the opportunity to talk about this. You know, as a physician, we…”

“I thank the chairman for yielding, and I appreciate the opportunity to talk about this. You know, as a physician, we take an oath. We say: Do no harm. And today in America and here in Washington, D.C., we are debating physician-assisted suicide, where we are authorizing physicians to take someone's life--to assist in taking someone's life. To me, this undermines the very thing that healthcare is all about. Who is most affected in this situation? Our most vulnerable citizens: the disabled and the poor. As a doctor, I can tell you, what has always been in my heart is this is about care and about comfort, and those are our priorities. Physician-assisted suicide does not provide comfort. It merely ends life. In Washington, D.C., a doctor can decide that you may be going to die within 6 months if you have a terminal disease--a terminal disease if you are untreated. Many terminal diseases would be terminal if they are not treated. With that, the doctor can write a prescription. There is no tracking of that prescription once it is given and there is no witness of the patient taking this prescription. They can simply go home to die alone. In one State where there is physician-assisted suicide, they have had an increase in suicides outside of physician-assisted suicides. I think that what we are saying to too many people is: You are not needed. Again, this undermines what I think we are all about and what healthcare should be all about.…”