美国国家公共电台 NPR--Disability groups say California's assisted suicide law discriminates against them

Disability groups say California's assisted suicide law discriminates¹ against them

Transcript²

Four disability groups have filed a lawsuit³ to overturn California's assisted suicide law — saying it devalues their lives and encourages discrimination against them.

MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:

Disability groups are challenging a California law that allows terminally ill people to get drugs to end their lives. The groups say that people living with disabilities are at greater risk of being coerced⁴ into seeking those medications for assisted suicide. NPR's Joseph Shapiro has this report.

JOSEPH SHAPIRO, BYLINE⁵: People with disabilities often have a complicated relationship with the medical system. Many doctors make their lives better, even save their lives. But sometimes doctors deny care or even question if their lives are worth living. The pandemic heightened the fears of disabled people, people like Ingrid Tischer.

INGRID TISCHER: When I was in the hospital, I was afraid for the first time in my life in a hospital.

SHAPIRO: Tischer has a form of muscular dystrophy. She's in her 50s now. She's spent a lifetime around doctors, but something this time, in 2021 in the middle of the pandemic when she had pneumonia⁶, threw her for a loop.

TISCHER: For me, it was a very solid gut⁷ punch.

SHAPIRO: At the hospital, a doctor was dismissive. She asked for therapy to regain⁸ her strength. In the past, she got care that brought her back from illnesses. This time the doctor said no.

TISCHER: He kind of looked at me and said, well, I mean, look at you. There's nothing we can really do for you. And you've known this is coming for a long time, so why are you surprised?

SHAPIRO: Tischer says she was devastated⁹, ready to go home and die. If a doctor had told her she should apply for California's assisted suicide law, she says, she might well have said yes. To be clear, no doctor ever suggested that. She never got the pills needed to die. Instead, she got another doctor who gave her a different diagnosis¹⁰. She got out of the hospital, she recovered, and today she's working again and doing fine. Now, Tischer is one of the named plaintiffs on a California lawsuit filed this week that challenges the legality of the state's 7-year-old End of Life Option Act.

MICHAEL BIEN: The law discriminates against people in a very dangerous way and steers¹¹ and normalizes suicide for a particularly vulnerable part of the population.

SHAPIRO: That's Michael Bien, the lawyer who was bringing the lawsuit on behalf of four disability groups. To many disabled people, the danger of subtle medical discrimination is real. In the pandemic, faced with possible shortages of ventilators and other treatments, several states told doctors and hospitals it was OK to deny care to disabled and elderly people. The federal government stepped in and stopped it. People who work with California's assisted suicide law say there's not that kind of discrimination in its end of life law. Nathan Fairman is the psychiatrist¹² and palliative care doctor who oversees¹³ cases at UC Davis Health in Sacramento.

NATHAN FAIRMAN: Having a disability would not qualify an individual for aid in dying. Someone who's disabled and has end-stage cancer could potentially qualify, and they would have to step through all of the safeguards that are set out in the law.

SHAPIRO: Fairman says there are plenty of those safeguards to prevent abuse. Two doctors need to confirm that someone is terminally ill and mentally competent to choose to die. A spokesperson for the California Department of Public Health said it does not comment on litigation.

Joseph Shapiro, NPR News.

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1 discriminates   

分别，辨别，区分( discriminate的第三人称单数 )； 歧视，有差别地对待

参考例句：

• The new law discriminates against lower-paid workers. 这条新法律歧视低工资的工人。
• One test governs state legislation that discriminates against interstate commerce. 一个检验约束歧视州际商业的州立法。 来自英汉非文学 - 环境法 - 环境法

2 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

3 lawsuit   

n.诉讼，控诉

参考例句：

• They threatened him with a lawsuit.他们以诉讼威逼他。
• He was perpetually involving himself in this long lawsuit.他使自己无休止地卷入这场长时间的诉讼。

4 coerced   

v.迫使做( coerce的过去式和过去分词 )；强迫；（以武力、惩罚、威胁等手段）控制；支配

参考例句：

• They were coerced into negotiating a settlement. 他们被迫通过谈判解决。
• He was coerced into making a confession. 他被迫招供。 来自《简明英汉词典》

5 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

6 pneumonia   

n.肺炎

参考例句：

• Cage was struck with pneumonia in her youth.凯奇年轻时得过肺炎。
• Pneumonia carried him off last week.肺炎上星期夺去了他的生命。

7 gut   

n.[pl.]胆量；内脏；adj.本能的；vt.取出内脏

参考例句：

• It is not always necessary to gut the fish prior to freezing.冷冻鱼之前并不总是需要先把内脏掏空。
• My immediate gut feeling was to refuse.我本能的直接反应是拒绝。

8 regain   

vt.重新获得，收复，恢复

参考例句：

• He is making a bid to regain his World No.1 ranking.他正为重登世界排名第一位而努力。
• The government is desperate to regain credibility with the public.政府急于重新获取公众的信任。

9 devastated   

v.彻底破坏( devastate的过去式和过去分词)；摧毁；毁灭；在感情上（精神上、财务上等）压垮adj.毁坏的；极为震惊的

参考例句：

• The bomb devastated much of the old part of the city. 这颗炸弹炸毁了旧城的一大片地方。
• His family is absolutely devastated. 他的一家感到极为震惊。

10 diagnosis   

n.诊断，诊断结果，调查分析，判断

参考例句：

• His symptoms gave no obvious pointer to a possible diagnosis.他的症状无法作出明确的诊断。
• The engineer made a complete diagnosis of the bridge's collapse.工程师对桥的倒塌做一次彻底的调查分析。

11 steers   

n.阉公牛，肉用公牛( steer的名词复数 )v.驾驶( steer的第三人称单数 )；操纵；控制；引导

参考例句：

• This car steers easily. 这部车子易于驾驶。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Good fodder fleshed the steers up. 优质饲料使菜牛长肉。 来自辞典例句

12 psychiatrist   

n.精神病专家；精神病医师

参考例句：

• He went to a psychiatrist about his compulsive gambling.他去看精神科医生治疗不能自拔的赌瘾。
• The psychiatrist corrected him gently.精神病医师彬彬有礼地纠正他。

13 oversees   

v.监督，监视( oversee的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• She oversees both the research and the manufacturing departments. 她既监督研究部门又监督生产部门。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The Department of Education oversees the federal programs dealing with education. 教育部监管处理教育的联邦程序。 来自互联网