March 1, 2024
SENATE CONCURRENT
RESOLUTION No. 17
DIGEST OF RESOLUTION
A CONCURRENT RESOLUTION opposing and condemning
assisted suicide.
Johnson T
February 1, 2024, read first time and referred to Committee on Health and Provider
Services.
February 29, 2024, reported favorably — Do Pass.
SC 17—RC 1502/DI SM March 1, 2024
Second Regular Session 123rd General Assembly (2024)
SENATE CONCURRENT
RESOLUTION No. 17
1 A CONCURRENT RESOLUTION opposing and
2 condemning assisted suicide.
3 Whereas, The State of Indiana has an unqualified interest
4 in the preservation of human life and the State's prohibition on
5 assisting suicide in IC 35-42-1-2.5 both reflects and advances
6 its commitment to the State's interest;
7 Whereas, Neither the United States Constitution nor the
8 Constitution of the State of Indiana contain a right to assisted
9 suicide and neither include a right for one individual to
10 authorize another to end their life in violation of federal or
11 state criminal laws;
12 Whereas, Suicide is not a typical reaction to an acute
13 problem or life circumstance, and many individuals who
14 contemplate suicide, including the terminally ill, suffer from
15 treatable mental disorders, most commonly clinical depression,
16 which frequently goes undiagnosed and untreated by
17 physicians;
18 Whereas, In Oregon,46 percent of patients seeking assisted
19 suicide changed their minds when their physicians intervened
20 and appropriately addressed suicidal ideations by treating their
21 pain, depression, or other medical problems;
22 Whereas, Palliative care continues to improve and altering
23 the treatment focus to relieving pain and allows a person to die
24 naturally, comfortably, and in a dignified manner without a
25 change in the law;
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1 Whereas, Experiences in Oregon and the Netherlands
2 explicitly demonstrate that palliative care options deteriorate
3 with the legalization of physician-assisted suicide;
4 Whereas, A physician's recommendation for assisted
5 suicide relies on the physician's judgment — to include negative
6 perceptions — that a patient's life is not worth living,
7 ultimately contributing to the use of "futility care" protocols
8 and euthanasia;
9 Whereas, The legalization of assisted suicide sends a
10 message that suicide is a socially acceptable response to aging,
11 terminal illnesses, disabilities, and depression and subsequently
12 imposes a "duty to die";
13 Whereas, The medical profession as a whole opposes
14 physician-assisted suicide because it is contrary to the medical
15 profession's duty to the Hippocratic Oath and their role as
16 healer, and undermines the physician-patient relationship;
17 Whereas, Assisted suicide is significantly less expensive
18 than other care options and Oregon's experience demonstrates
19 that cost constraints can create financial incentives to limit
20 care and offer assisted suicide;
21 Whereas, As evidenced in Oregon, the private nature of
22 end-of-life decisions makes it virtually impossible to police a
23 physician's behavior to prevent abuses, making any number of
24 safeguards insufficient;
25 Whereas, Assisted suicide is a direct threat to human
26 dignity, patient rights, and the disabled when the medical goal
27 must be to eliminate suffering rather than the person who
28 suffers;
29 Whereas, Patients should be allowed to die naturally
30 through the use of ordinary treatment to sustain needs, increase
31 comfort, and place the focus from curing back to caring rather
32 than obligate the use of extraordinary medical treatment that
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1 would prolong their dying; and
2 Whereas, A prohibition on assisted suicide, specifically
3 physician-assisted suicide, is the only way to protect vulnerable
4 citizens from coerced suicide and euthanasia: Therefore,
5 Be it resolved by the Senate of the General Assembly
6 of the State of Indiana, the House of Representatives
7 concurring:
8 SECTION 1. That the Indiana General Assembly, in its
9 unqualified interest in the preservation of human life, strongly
10 opposes and condemns physician-assisted suicide.
11 SECTION 2. That the Indiana General Assembly strongly
12 opposes physician-assisted suicide because anything less than
13 a prohibition leads to foreseeable abuses and eventually to
14 euthanasia by devaluing human life, particularly the lives of the
15 terminally ill, elderly, disabled, and depressed, whose lives are
16 of no less value or quality than any other citizen of this State.
17 SECTION 3. That the Indiana General Assembly strongly
18 opposes physician-assisted suicide even for terminally ill,
19 mentally competent adults because assisted suicide eviscerates
20 efforts to prevent the self-destructive act of suicide and hinders
21 progress in effective physician interventions, including
22 diagnosing and treating depression, managing pain, and
23 providing palliative and hospice care.
24 SECTION 4. That the Indiana General Assembly strongly
25 opposes physician-assisted suicide because assisted suicide
26 undermines the integrity and ethics of the medical profession,
27 subverts a physician's role as healer, and compromises the
28 physician-patient relationship.
29 SECTION 5. The Secretary of the Senate is hereby directed
30 to transmit copies of this Resolution to Governor Eric
31 Holcomb, the Commissioner of the Indiana Department of
32 Health, and the Indiana State Medical Association.
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COMMITTEE REPORT
Madam President: The Senate Committee on Health and Provider
Services, to which was referred Senate Concurrent Resolution No. 17,
has had the same under consideration and begs leave to report the same
back to the Senate with the recommendation that said resolution DO
PASS.
(Reference is to SC 17 as introduced.)
CHARBONNEAU, Chairperson
Committee Vote: Yeas 9, Nays 2
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