Dear Assemblymembers:
Please vote "No"on ABX2-15 (assisted suicide/euthanasia). Doctors are already abusing the power they have. This bill, which will give doctors even more power to medically kill patients, can only make a bad situation worse.
In 2009, my mother died after a young doctor encouraged my brother, who held power of attorney, to begin “comfort care.” My mother, who was NOT DYING, had had a mild stroke. She had been trying to speak and had indicated that she would like some water. Instead, on the order of this doctor, she was medically killed (starved and dehydrated, with massive doses of morphine).
In that same year, I published my mother’s story . Since then, I have been contacted by other adult children in the US and Canada whose parents were involuntarily killed via starvation, dehydration and overdose..
These involuntary deaths of people who were not dying are not isolated incidents.
Last year, the Washington Post published a feature article describing similar involuntary deaths of people who were not dying. . See Peter Whoriskey, “As More Hospices Enroll Patients who Aren't Dying, Questions About Lethal Doses Arise,” August 21, 2014, available at http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/storyline/wp/2014/08/21/as-more-hospices-enroll-patients-who-arent-dying-questions-about-lethal-doses-arise
Meanwhile, in California, there is the pending lawsuit of Victorino Noval, who was also reportedly NOT DYING. According to court papers, Noval was a wealthy man whose daughters instructed doctors to involuntarily medically kill him. This allowed the daughters to inherit millions. See William Dotinga, “Grim Complaint Against Kaiser Hospital,” Court. http://www.courthousenews.com/2012/02/06/43641.htm
The proposed bill, ABX2-15, is sold as limited to dying patients and completely voluntary.
The bill by its own terms is not limited to dying patients.. Rather, it gives doctors more power by allowing them to participate in medical killings of people with a mere prediction of six months to live. We all know that such predictions can be wrong. See, for example: Jessica Firger, “12 million Americans misdiagnosed each year,” CBS NEWS, April 17, 2014, at
As for the “voluntary” part, my mother’s death was not voluntary. The other deaths described above were not voluntary. Abuse of non-dying patients is rampant now and cannot be controlled. Please do not make a bad situation worse.
To read my mother’s story, please go here: http://www.choiceillusion.org/p/mild-stroke-led-to-mothers-forced.html
Vote “NO” on ABX2-15
Thank you,
Kate Kelly
Delta BC Canada
