Date: Fri, 28 Apr 2000 15:33:32 -0400 (EDT)
Message-Id: <200004281933.PAA20440@mattababy.mit.edu>
From: belmonte@mit.edu (Matthew Belmonte)
To: john_kerry@kerry.senate.gov
Subject: oppose the Pain Relief Promotion Act

Dear Senator Kerry

I wrote as your constituent to express my opposition to Senator Don Nickles'
so-called `Pain Relief Promotion Act'.  Although this bill includes language
that seems to promote pain relief for the terminally ill, these provisions
largely restate current law.  The real agenda of HR 2260 is to overturn the
Oregon law that allows physician-assisted suicide in cases of terminal illness,
and to prevent other states from enacting similar laws.

Senator, two of my grandparents died of cancer.  Although they met their ends
bravely, their last days were filled with pain.  I would not want the same to
happen to anyone I care about, or indeed to me when my own time comes.  People
who are terminally ill should be allowed to choose a quick and painless death,
and Congress should not interfere with this choice.