TED KENNEDY’S WIDOW SPEAKS OUT AGAINST ASSISTED SUICIDE BALLOT MEASURE:  Voters in Massachusetts will be faced with Question 2, a ballot measure that would allow physician assistance with suicide for individuals deemed terminally ill (defined as 6 months or less to live). According to Catholic Culture:

Proposition 2 is unjust, Kennedy wrote, because it is “intended to exclude family members from the actual decision-making process to guard against patients’ being pressured to end their lives prematurely.” She added that the bill also places undue weight on a doctor’s diagnosis that a patient has less than 6 months to live. Speaking from experience, the Senator’s widow notes that Ted Kennedy’s terminal cancer was discovered, he was told he had 4-5 months to live. “Because that first dire prediction of life expectancy was wrong, I have 15 months of cherished memories,” Victoria Kennedy said.

The Massachusetts Medical Society opposes the measure for various reasons, including its agreement with Kennedy’s concerns about the “terminal” diagnosis, saying,

Predicting the end of life within six months is difficult; sometimes the prediction is not accurate. From time to time, patients expected to be within months of their death have gone on to live many more months — or years. In one study, 17 percent of patients outlived their prognosis.

Polls on the measure show that it enjoys broad support, however, and is likely to pass.