John Jay Hooker pleads for physician-assisted suicide
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Longtime civil rights activist John Jay Hooker pleaded before a state Senate committee for a bill to allow physician-assisted suicide.
The 84-year-old former Democratic nominee for governor has terminal cancer. He showed up yesterday at a meeting of the Senate Health and Welfare Committee in a wheelchair. At times Hooker struggled to catch his breath, but with a Bible in hand he spoke passionately about the issue.
“And I feel that I have reached the point where I am no longer useful, and I’m a burden, and that I’ve lost my quality of life. I don’t think there’s any prohibition in this book that keeps me from doing what I want to do.”
Tennessee Disability Coalition Executive Director Carol Westlake spoke in opposition. She worries legalizing assisted suicide could put the disabled in harm’s way.
“The legalization of physician assisted suicide often appears acceptable. People are in bad shape, people want some relief, but if you look at a larger context it has repercussions across all of society. Our real worry is that it has the potential to put a lot of people at risk of immense harm. There really are lives on the line.”
Lawmakers promised to take up the so-called death with dignity bill when the Tennessee Legislature reconvenes in January.