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Oklahoma Lawmaker Will Try Physician-Assisted Suicide Bill Again This Spring

State Rep. Steve Kouplen speaks during an interim legislative study at the Oklahoma state Capitol in Oklahoma City Tuesday.
Brent Fuchs
/
The Journal Record
State Rep. Steve Kouplen speaks during an interim legislative study at the Oklahoma state Capitol in Oklahoma City Tuesday.

A state lawmaker plans to reintroduce legislation that would allow terminally ill patients to receive a lethal dose of medicine.

State Rep. Steve Kouplen, D-Beggs, was partially inspired by 29-year-old Brittany Maynard, who sought help from doctors in Oregon to end her life two years ago.

Kouplen watched that public drama, with a painful memory fresh in his mind, The Journal Record’s Dale Denwalt reports:

Death with dignity: It’s the phrase used to describe self-initiated euthanasia, or physician-aided suicide. But what stuck with Kouplen was the word “dignity.” “My mother had a series of mini-strokes, and she went from a normal person to a bed-ridden, unable-to-communicate individual who spent about two and a half years of her life bedfast and most of that in a nursing home,” said Kouplen, a state representative from Beggs. “There’s an indignity that you go through when you have to have someone take care of you. I just know my mother wouldn’t have wanted it to be that way.”

When Kouplen came back to Oklahoma City for the legislative session, he brought with him a version of Oregon’s Death with Dignity Act. It still hasn’t been given a vote, but he presented the issue in an interim hearing Tuesday. 

"I've had friends that – one had Lou Gehrig's Disease. And my sister had cancer. I have an aunt that had emphysema. My mother had strokes,” Kouplen said. “They all went through a very trying period at their end of life. And I think something like this is something that they might have considered."

Kouplen plans on trying again in 2017. The bill would let someone with just six months to live ask for a lethal dose of medicine:

Kouplen’s bill is identical to Oregon’s measure. It requires two physicians to sign off on the prescription, but only after the patient is deemed to be capable of making the decision. Several separate requests must be made, including one in writing, before a terminally ill patient can be given the prescription. At an interim legislative study Tuesday, Kouplen acknowledged the kind of pressure he’s faced by introducing the bill. “To say this whole issue is controversial and emotional is kind of an understatement, and I realize it’s not one that’s an easy one,” he said

The legislative affairs director of the Oklahoma State Medical Association said Kouplen’s idea goes against the traditional role of a physician as a healer:

“Certainly there are more things that can be done in the areas of palliative care and end-of-life care, and that’s something we need to look into,” Glinsmann said. The position of the OSMA mirrors that of the American Medical Association, but the state organization has not polled its membership. “We understand this is an emotional issue, and I’m sure that there are going to be physicians and patients on both sides of this,” he said. “I applaud Rep. Kouplen; it’s a debate that needs to be had. We need to be open about the discussion of end-of-life issues.”

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Brian Hardzinski is from Flower Mound, Texas and a graduate of the University of Oklahoma. He began his career at KGOU as a student intern, joining KGOU full time in 2009 as Operations and Public Service Announcement Director. He began regularly hosting Morning Edition in 2014, and became the station's first Digital News Editor in 2015-16. Brian’s work at KGOU has been honored by Public Radio News Directors Incorporated (PRNDI), the Oklahoma Association of Broadcasters, the Oklahoma Associated Press Broadcasters, and local and regional chapters of the Society of Professional Journalists. Brian enjoys competing in triathlons, distance running, playing tennis, and entertaining his rambunctious Boston Terrier, Bucky.
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