Dore: “The bill seeks to legalize ‘aid in dying,’ which is a traditional euphemism for active euthanasia.”
Contact: Margaret Dore, Esq., MBA
(206) 697-1217
Hartford, CT - Attorney Margaret Dore, president of Choice is an Illusion, which has fought assisted suicide and euthanasia legalization efforts in many states and now Connecticut, made the following statement in connection with a legislative hearing on a bill seeking to legalize assisted suicide and euthanasia in that state. (Committee Bill 5898, hearing Monday, 03/18/19, 10:30 A.M., Public Health Committee, Legislative Office Building, Room 1D).
“The bill seeks to legalize ‘aid in dying,’which is a traditional euphemism for euthanasia,” said Dore.The term is also misleading because the bill, if enacted, will apply to people with years to live.”
Dore elaborated, “The bill applies to people with an illness expected to produce death within six months. In practice, such predictions are often wrong. This is due to actual mistakes and the fact that predicting life expectancy is not an exact science.”
“Persons assisting a suicide or performing a euthanasia can have an agenda to benefit themselves.” said Dore. “Consider Tammy Sawyer, trustee for Thomas Middleton in Oregon, which has a similar law. Two days after his death by legal assisted suicide, she sold his home and deposited the proceeds into bank accounts for her own benefit. Consider also Graham Morant, recently convicted of counseling his wife to kill herself in Australia, to get the life insurance.”
Dore added, “Medical professionals too can have an agenda. Michael Swango, MD, now incarcerated, got a thrill from killing his patients. Consider also Harold Shipman, a doctor in the UK, who not only killed his patients, but stole from them and in one case made himself a beneficiary of the patient’s will.”
“The proposed Connecticut bill has no required oversight over administration of the lethal dose,” said Dore. “The death is allowed to occur in private without witnesses. The drugs used are water or alcohol soluble, such that they can be injected into a sleeping or restrained person without consent. If the patient objected or even struggled, who would know?”
Dore said, “The bill requires the person signing the death certificate to list a terminal illness as the cause of death, not a lethal dose. This will create a legal inability to prosecute criminal behavior, for example, in the case of an outright murder for the money. The official cause of death will be a terminal illness. The bill, if enacted, will create a perfect crime.”
“Consider also a 2005 article in the UK’s Guardian newspaper regarding a public inquiry of Dr. Shipman’s conduct,” said Dore. “The inquiry determined that he ‘killed at least 250 of his patients over 23 years.’ The inquiry also found ‘that by issuing death certificates stating natural causes, the serial killer [Shipman] was able to evade investigation by coroners.’”
Dore continued, “According to a subsequent article in 2015, proposed reforms included having a medical examiner review death certificates, so as to improve patient safety. Instead, the instant bill moves in the opposite direction to require legal coverup as a matter of law.”
Dore concluded, “If the Connecticut bill becomes law, there will be new paths of lethal abuse and exploitation for people with health issues and assets, meaning the middle class and above. They will be sitting ducks to their heirs and other predators. Even if you like the concept of assisted suicide and euthanasia, the proposed bill has it all wrong.”
For more information, see: Margaret Dore, Vote “No” on Committee Bill 5898,
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