*THIS IS THE EXACT TEXT WHICH HAS BEEN SENT BEFORE THE GREATER LOUISVILLE MEDICAL SOCIETY. IF YOU SUPPORT THE FOLLOWING RESOLUTION, PLEASE SIGN YOUR NAME

**THIS PETITION IS DESIGNED FOR PHYSICIANS IN KENTUCKY WHO ARE MEMBERS OF THE KENTUCKY MEDICAL ASSOCIATION TO SIGN. PLEASE REFRAIN FROM ADDING YOUR NAME UNLESS YOU ARE FROM THIS GROUP. NAMES ON THIS LIST WILL BE PRESENTED BEFORE THE GLMS AND EVENTUALLY THE KENTUCKY MEDICAL ASSOCIATION ALONG WITH THE RESOLUTION BELOW. FOR QUESTIONS, PLEASE EMAIL BEN GERMAN AT benjamin.german@louisville.edu.

***PLEASE ADD THE CITY IN WHICH YOU PRACTICE BESIDE YOUR NAME [EG: JOHN DOE, LOUISVILLE]

Subject: Physician Assisted Suicide

Submitted by: Benjamin German, University of Louisville School of Medicine

Candidate, Class of 2019

Referred to: Reference Committee

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Whereas, The official position and attitudes of state medical associations towards Physician-Assisted Suicide (PAS) is shifting towards a position of neutrality.

Whereas, The position a state medical association takes has demonstrable influence on the position a state legislature takes.

Whereas, The California Medical Association moved its stance on this issue from a decided negative to a neutral position in May of 2015, a decision which had been preceded by a desire to “take a step back from the hard-line, ‘just-say-no’ position” in years prior to its policy shift.

Whereas, In October 2015, the California governor signed into law a bill permitting PAS, though between 1995 and 2008, four similar bills did not pass the state legislature at a time when the CMA opposed such a bill.

Whereas, The Oregon Medical Association maintained a neutral stance at the time of the passage of 1994 referendum which made Oregon the first state to legalize PAS.

Whereas, The Vermont Medical Society essentially took a neutral position towards PAS in a 2003 resolution, and in 2013 the state legislature adopted a bill legalizing PAS.

Whereas, Although the position of the American Medical Association has always been in opposition to PAS as “fundamentally inconsistent with the physician's professional role,” this position is being challenged by the trustees of the Oregon Medical Association, who in June 2016 adopted a resolution to encourage the AMA to further research the issue and consider taking a neutral position.

Whereas, To move from an opposing position to a neutral one with respect to a weighty moral question such as PAS is tantamount to approval of the act, and in this case may well lead to state legalization.

RESOLVED, That the Kentucky Medical Association adopt a clearly defined position against Physician-Assisted Suicide as an act which is intrinsically incompatible with the duty of a physician to do no harm.

RESOLVED, That the Kentucky Medical Association recommend to the American Medical Association that it stand firm in its opposition to Physician-Assisted Suicide.