When voters go to the polls, they will find a Constitutional Amendment that has flown under the radar when it comes to voter attention or education. Amendment One to the WV Constitution addresses assisted suicide. The Amendment’s title is “Protection of Persons against medically assisted suicide.” The placement on the ballot was possible because the Legislature passed a resolution during the regular session. The need to amend the Constitution has baffled many since medically assisted suicide is already illegal in West Virginia. Under current West Virginia law, if a doctor gives a patient a lethal cocktail, he/she could be charged with murder.
Only nine states currently allow Medically Assisted Suicide: California, Colorado, Hawaii, Maine, New Jersey, New Mexico,, Oregon, Vermont and Washington plus the District of Columbia.
Delegate Pat McGeehan (R-1st) was one of the backers of the resolution and most recently wrote an op-ed giving his opinion which was published in HOMETOWN NEWS.
The full wording of the amendment is not included on the ballot The full wording of the amendment is as follows:
No person, physician, or health care provider in the State of West Virginia shall participate in the practice of medically assisted suicide. euthanasia, or mercy killing of a person. Nothing in this section prohibits the administration or prescription of a medication for the purpose of alleviating pain or discomfort while the patient’s condition follow its natural course nor does anything in this section prohibit the withdrawing of life sustaining treatment as requested by the patient or the patient’s decision maker, in accordance with State law. Further, nothing in this section prevents the State from providing capital punishment.
The last line of the Amendment has also drawn attention since the State of West Virginia outlawed executions in 1965.
