Going the Way of the Dinosaur

By Margaret Dore, Esq.

This document is a shorter and more formal version of my presentation at the Caring About Everyone Conference in Hartford Connecticut, on October 15, 2022. The conference was generously sponsored by the Euthanasia Prevention Coalition and the Family Institute of Connecticut.

About Me

I am an attorney licensed to practice law in Washington State. I have been working against assisted suicide and euthanasia since 2008. I am also president of Choice is an Illusion and the Foundation for Choice is an Illusion.

Hearing Today: Tell the Connecticut Public Health Committee to Reject Assisted Suicide & Euthanasia

Dore with Elaine Kolb

"Don't render yourselves, and the people you care about, sitting ducks to heirs and other predators."

By Margaret Dore, Esq.

To read Dore's analysis opposing Raised Bill No. 6425, with supporting documentation, click here and here.

1.    The Bill

The proposed bill, "An Act Concerning Aid in Dying for the Terminally Ill," seeks to legalize “aid in dying,” which is a euphemism for active euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide.[1] 

2. Who May Be Most at at Risk?

Individuals with money, meaning the middle class and above. 

Assisted Suicide Bill HB 5420 Dead for Now

Stephen Mendelsohn

Stephen Mendelsohn:

We still need to be concerned about a special session, but for now, 8 years with no bill passing a single committee.

Story below courtesy of Connecticut News Junkie:

HARTFORD, CT — They never expected it to end like this, but legislative leaders decided Monday that it’s not safe for them to return to the state Capitol before the constitutional adjournment of May 6.

Connecticut: Legislators Need to See Our Tears

Author testifying in 2015

By Cathy Ludlum

American democracy is based on the idea that the voices of the people matter. As legislators struggle with difficult issues, trying to balance the needs of conflicting constituencies and solve complicated problems, they need to hear the perspectives of the people most directly affected.

This is why they listen to hour after hour of in-person testimony. Written testimony has its place. Studies and charts provide important information; but being in the presence of the people, hearing their passion, and sometimes seeing their tears brings us together as human beings and makes it possible for legislators to make the best decisions.

Help Us Help You

Margaret Dore and Elaine Kolb,
after testifying in Connecticut

Choice is an Illusion and its president, Margaret Dore, work with other people and groups throughout the US and internationally, to stop and reverse the spread of legal assisted suicide and euthanasia.

Dore is a fourth generation lawyer in Washington State USA, where her work has included guardianship and family law.  She has seen the terrible things that people do to each other for money. This includes court-appointed guardians who steal from the very people they are charged to protect. 

Connecticut: Division of Criminal Justice Opposes Death Certificate Falsification

To view original document, click here

TESTIMONY OF THE DIVISION OF CRIMINAL JUSTICE

H.B. No. 5898 (RAISED) AN ACT CONCERNING AID IN DYING FOR TERMINALLY ILL PATIENTS.

JOINT COMMITTEE ON PUBLIC HEALTH
March 18, 2019

The Division of Criminal Justice takes no position on the concept of H.B. No. 5898, An Act Concerning Aid in Dying for Terminally Ill Patients, but must raise the same concerns that we brought to the Joint Committee on Judiciary when similar legislation was proposed in 2015 (H.B. No. 7015). We state again, as we did then, that the bill as now written could have unintended and very unwelcome consequences.

Assisted suicide is a "prescription for abuse"

http://www.theday.com/article/20140318/OP02/303189999

I am a former three-term state representative in New Hampshire. Just last week, our House of Representatives voted down an assisted-suicide law similar to Connecticut's Raised Bill No. 5326. The vote was an overwhelming 3 to 1 defeat, 219 to 66.

In New Hampshire, the House is controlled by the Democrats. The vote against assisted suicide was strongly bipartisan and included libertarians. Many representatives, who initially thought that they were for the law, became uncomfortable when they studied it further.

Contrary to promoting "choice" for older people, assisted suicide laws are a prescription for abuse. They empower heirs and others to pressure and abuse older people to cut short their lives. This is especially an issue when the older person has money. There is no assisted suicide bill that you can write to correct this huge problem.

Do not be deceived.

Nancy Elliott Merrimack, NH
Publication: The Day

Published 03/18/2014 12:00 AM

Updated 03/17/2014 04:33 PM

Connecticut: Dore Letter and Memo to Committee

Dear Committee Members:

I am a Democrat and a lawyer in Washington State where assisted suicide is legal.  Our law is modeled on a similar law in Oregon.  Both laws are similar to H.B. No. 5326.

Below are highlights to a memo I wrote, providing a legal analysis of  H.B. No. 5326.  To view the memo, please click here.

1.  H.B. No. 5326 is a recipe for elder abuse

• "Financial considerations [are] an all too common motivation for killing someone." (memo, page 7)
• Your heir, who will financially benefit from your death, is allowed to act as a witness on the lethal dose request form.  See  H.B. No. 5326, Section 3 (allowing one of two witnesses to be an heir)
• There is a complete lack of oversight once the lethal dose is issued by the pharmacy.  Not even a witness is required.  Even if you struggled, who would know?

2.  H.B. No. 5326 encourages people to throw away their lives.

•  H.B. No. 5326 applies to patients with a "terminal illness," which is defined in terms of a doctor's prediction of less than six months to live. (memo, pages 4-5).
•  In Oregon, a similar definition is being interpreted to include people with chronic conditions such as diabetes.  (Id.)
• The six months to live is determined without treatment.  Consider, for example, my friend, Jeanette Hall, who had cancer and who was adamant that she would "do" Oregon's law.  Her doctor convinced her to be treated instead.  She is thrilled to be alive today, nearly 14 years later.  (memo, pages 5-6)

3.  H.B. No. 5326 will allow health care providers and insurers to steer people to suicide

• In Oregon, the Oregon Health Plan steers patients to assisted suicide. (Memo pages 17-20).  See also the affidavit of Oregon doctor Ken Stevens, in the appendix at A-24, which is also attached here:  http://maasdocuments.files.wordpress.com/2012/09/signed-stevens-aff-9-18-12.pdf
• See also this letter by Kathryn Judson (describing how she overheard a doctor pitching assisted suicide to her husband)  http://www.choiceillusion.org/2013/12/i-was-afraid-to-leave-my-husband-alone.html
• Do you want this to happen to you or your family?

4.  I have had two clients whose fathers signed up for the lethal dose. 

• In the first case, one side of the family wanted the father to take the lethal dose, while the other did not.  He  spent the last months of his life caught in the middle and traumatized over    whether or not he should kill himself.  My client, his adult daughter, was also traumatized.  The father did not take the lethal dose and died a natural death.  (Memo, page 22)
• In the other case, it's not clear that administration of the lethal dose was voluntary.  A man who was present told my client that the father refused to take the lethal dose when it was  delivered (?You?re not killing me.  I?m going to bed?), but then took it the next night when he was high on alcohol.  The man who told this to my client later recanted.  My client did not want to pursue the matter further. (Memo, pages 22-3)
• Do you want this to happen to you or your family?

5.  Two weeks ago, a similar bill was defeated by a 3 to 1 margin

•  On March 6, 2014, the New Hampshire House, which is controlled by the Democrats, defeated a bill similar to H.B. No. 5326.  
• The vote was 219 to 66. 
•  Please click here. 

I urge you to not make Washington's mistake.

Please vote No on H.B. 5326.

Thank you.

Margaret Dore
Law Offices of Margaret K. Dore, P.S.
www.margaretdore.com
www.choiceillusion.org
1001 4th Avenue, 44th Floor
Seattle, WA  98154
206 389 1754 main reception line
206 389 1562 direct line