Terri Hancharick: Being Disabled Doesn’t Mean Death Is Better Than Life

https://notdeadyet.org/2023/09/terri-hancharick-being-disabled-doesnt-mean-death-is-better-than-life.html

Delaware’s Daily State News published an opinion piece by the Chair of the State Council for Persons with Disabilities who is also the parent of a person with developmental disabilities. In the article, Terri Hancharick stated in part:

Delaware’s assisted suicide bill is based on legislation in Oregon, where assisted suicide was first legalized. Data from Oregon provides insight into the top reasons that patients ask for assisted suicide. The top five reasons that people gave were the loss of autonomy, being unable to participate in activities that make life enjoyable, loss of dignity, loss of bodily functions and becoming a burden on family, friends and caregivers. These reasons are all disability-related. Contrary to popular belief, pain does not even make it into the top reasons people give to justify their application for assisted suicide.

Alex Schadenberg: "Canada's Life Expectancy Rate Drops; Euthanasia Is One of the Reasons"

Canada's life expectancy rate has dropped three years in a row from the average Canadian dying at the age of 82.3 years in 2019 to 81.3 years in 2022. Much of the news coverage blaimed the shorter life span on Covid 19 deaths and the Canadian Press reported that:

An increase in deaths among younger people last year was attributable in part to deaths under investigation by a coroner or medical examiner, which typically include suicides, homicides and drug toxicity deaths.

Further to that, the Canadian Press reported:

New Brunswick saw the biggest decline in life expectancy among provinces, dropping more than a year to 79.8 years from 80.9 in 2021, the report said. Saskatchewan's life expectancy has fallen the most over the past three years combined, dropping a full two years to 78.5 in 2022 from 80.5 in 2019. Prince Edward Island was not included in the yearly data breakdowns by province.

Health Columnist Andre Picard was published by the Globe and Mail on December 5 as stating:

A one-year loss in life expectancy may not seem like a big deal, but it is. It’s only the second time this sharp a drop has happened in Canada in the past century. In fact, life expectancy has been climbing steadily for decades: 71 in 1960, 75 in 1980, 79 in 2000, and 82.3 in 2019. Life expectancy is an oft-misunderstood measure. It’s not so much a prediction of how long an individual can expect to live, but rather a crude measure of a country’s health, the only real measure of overall population health we have.

To read Schadenberg's article as originally published, please click here: https://alexschadenberg.blogspot.com/2023/12/canadians-life-expectancy-drops-three.html

Proposed Delaware Act (HB 140) Is Unconstitutional

By Margaret K. Dore, Esq.

Delaware's Constitution has two rules to determine the constitutionality
of a legislative enactment:  (1) the single subject rule; and (2) the object in title rule. In order for a legislative enactment to be constitutional, there must be compliance with both rules. 

Here, the proposed Act’s title is: “The Ron Silverio/Heather Block End of Life Options Law." The title thereby implies that the Act is "optional," meaning "left to one's choice." 

On close examination, however, the Act has no enforcement mechanism to ensure that the Act is voluntary. Involuntary and non-voluntary death are allowed via the Act. 

The Act, as proposed, is therefore unconstitutional. The Act cannot be legally enacted via its present title.

Supreme Court of New Jersey: No Word Yet

 On June 6, 2023, attorney Margaret Dore filed an amicus brief in the Supreme Court of New Jersey, seeking to overturn Petro v Platkin, 472 N.J. Super. 536, 277 A.3d 480 (2022). Dore's brief also supports the petitioners, including Dr. Joseph Glassman, MD, pictured here. 

Dore and the petitioners seek to overturn New Jersey's Medical Aid in Dying for the Terminally Ill Act, as unconstitutional. The Act legalized aid in dying, previously known as assisted suicide, physician-assisted suicide and euthanasia.

The Act allows these practices on both a voluntary and involuntary basis. The Supreme Court has not ruled as to whether it will take the case. The case was previously titled Glassman v. Grewal and also Petro v Grewal.

Florida's Surgeon General Urges Americans to Refuse to Follow New Mask Mandates

https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2023/08/floridas-surgeon-general-urges-residents-refuse-new-mask/

by David Greyson

Florida Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo is urging people to refuse to follow
any new mask mandates as schools slowly try to reinstate Covid policies.

On Thursday Ladapo suggested that people should refuse to participate.

"What do you call re-imposing mask policies that have been proven
ineffective or restarting lockdowns that are known to cause harm?" Joseph
Ladapo said in a tweet. "You don't call it sanity."

"These terrible policies only work with your cooperation. How about
refusing to participate..." he added.

New Jersey Medical Aid in Dying Act Is Unconstitutional

Click this link to view Margaret Dore's amicus brief as filed on June 6, 2023. The version below has been reformatted to accommodate this site.

PRELIMINARY STATEMENT

Amicus Curiae Margaret Dore, who argued the cause below in Petro v. Platkin, 472 N.J. Super. 536, 277 A.3d 480 (2022), seeks to overturn the Medical Aid in Dying for the Terminally Ill Act as unconstitutional. 

The case was initially filed as Glassman v. Grewel, then renamed Petro v. Grewel, and then renamed Petro v. Platkin. This brief is submitted in support of the petitioners: Dr. Joseph Glassman, MD; Manish Pujara, a licensed pharmacist; and Anthony Petro, a patient.

The Act’s findings describe the Act as “entirely voluntary.” There is, however, no enforcement mechanism to make this so. Deaths per the Act are allowed to occur in private, without a witness or even a doctor present.... 

Major Assisted Suicide Win in Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court

By Barbara Lyons

Patients' Rights Action Fund

We are thrilled to announce that a favorable decision was reached in Kligler v. Healy by the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts which rejected the notion that there is a right to assisted suicide in the Massachusetts Constitution.  

Here is a key phrase from the decision:

Although we recognize the paramount importance and profound significance of all end-of-life decisions, after careful consideration, we conclude that the Massachusetts Declaration of Rights does not reach so far as to protect physician-assisted suicide.3 We conclude as well that the law of manslaughter may prohibit physician-assisted suicide, and does so, without offending constitutional protections.

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.

Connecticut Event Background Materials

1.  Dore Memo Regarding Raised Bill No. 88. Prepared for hearing before the Public Health Committee, February 23, 2022, at 9 am

2.  Web version, dated February 22, 2022

3.  Amicus Brief argued before the New Jersey Court of Appeals (not Connecticut). The arguments may be helpful.  

Join Margaret Dore and Other Featured Speakers Opposing Assisted Suicide and Euthanasia. An In-Person and Online Event

Margaret Dore:  "It's been a long time since a lot of us have seen each other. Thank you to the Euthanasia Prevention Coalition and the Family Institute of Connecticut for sponsoring this event!"

The Event:  Caring About Everyone, EPC-USA Anti-Assisted Suicide Conference.

Keynote Speaker:  Wesley J. Smith, contributor to The Corner at National Review and a senior fellow at the Discovery Institute's Center on Human Exceptionalism.   

Off Topic: My Best Friend Zena

By Margaret Dore

Approximately two years ago, my friend, Dr. Annie Bukacek, purchased a dog for protection, naming her Zena. It soon became apparent that Zena was a different kind of dog. For whatever reason, she never learned her name, but she knew when we were talking about her. She was smart, silly and very social.

Zena loved to make friends with the people who came to Annie’s office. Sometimes they brought her treats. She made friends [with me] at the local Starbucks, meaning more treats. She reached out to a lonely woman at the bank, making the woman’s day.