New Hampshire: Dore Memo Opposing Non-Voluntary Euthanasia

By Margaret Dore, Esq, MBA 

Click here to view a pdf version of this document, consisting of an index, a short memo and an appendix.

I. INTRODUCTION

I am a licensed attorney in Washington State where “death with dignity” (assisted suicide and euthanasia) is legal. Washington’s law is based on a similar law in Oregon.  Both laws are similar to the proposed Act set forth in HB 1659-FN.[1]

I am also a former Law Clerk to the Washington State Supreme Court and the Washington State Court of Appeals. I worked for a year with the United States Department of Justice and have been in private practice since 1990. I am also president of Choice is an Illusion, a nonprofit corporation opposed to assisted suicide and euthanasia.

I have personally appeared and testified against assisted suicide and/or euthanasia in at least 20 US legislatures, including New Hampshire, and also internationally. For more information see www.margaretdore.org and www.choiceillusion.org.

ADA Will Trump Euthanasia Prohibition

By Margaret Dore, Esq., MBA

Bills in New York State seek to pass a medical aid in dying act.[1] "Aid in dying" is a euphemism for active euthanasia, meaning the administration of a lethal agent to another person.[2][3]

The act also prohibits euthanasia, stating:

A health care professional or other person shall not administer the medication [lethal dose] to the patient. (Emphasis added).[4]

This prohibition is, however, unenforceable. This is due to the Americans with Disabilities Act (“ADA”).

The ADA: A Gift From the Disability Community to the Non-Disabled, Improving Access for All

http://www.npr.org/2015/07/24/423230927/-a-gift-to-the-non-disabled-at-25-the-ada-improves-access-for-all

"This elevator is a gift from the disability
 community and the ADA to the nondisabled
 people of New York," said civil rights
lawyer,  Sid Wolinsky. 

From NPR's Joseph Shapiro, published last year.

When the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) became law 25 years ago, "everybody was thinking about the iconic person in a wheelchair," says civil rights lawyer Sid Wolinsky. Or that the ADA — which bans discrimination based on disability — was for someone who is deaf, or blind.

But take a tour of New York City with Wolinsky — and the places he sued there — and you will see how the ADA has helped not just people with those significant disabilities, but also people with minor disabilities, and people with no disability at all.