"Do or Refer" Doctors Are Not Allowed to Use Their Best Judgment for Individual Patients (No More Jeanette Halls)

Jeanette Hall with her son Scott
shortly after she changed
her mind.

Margaret Dore Esq., MBA*

Yesterday, a doctor asked me about "do or refer" provisions in some of the newer bills seeking to legalize assisted suicide in the United States. For this reason, I now address the subject in the context of a 2018 Wisconsin bill, which did not pass.

The bill, AB 216, required the patient's attending physician to "fulfill the request for medication or refer," i.e. to write a lethal prescription for the purpose of killing the patient, or to make an effective referral to another physician, who would do it.

The bill also said that the attending physician's failure to comply would be "unprofessional conduct" such that the physician would be subject to discipline. The bill states:

Nevada: Bill All But Dead

SB 165, which would have legalized assisted suicide and euthanasia in Nevada, failed to make it out of its house of origin, so that it is now all but dead. According to 3 News Las Vegas:

While the bills the couldn't make it out of committee are technically off the table, they won't officially be out of the question until the Legislative Session ends in June.

The next major deadline comes on May 17. 

Maine: Tell the Legislature to Reject Bill LD 1313; Say "No" to Assisted Suicide & Euthanasia

By Margaret Dore, Esq., MBA

Click here for pdf version.

I.  INTRODUCTION

I am an attorney in Washington State where assisted suicide is legal.[1] Our law is based on a similar law in Oregon. In the fine print, both laws allow euthanasia. Both laws are similar to the proposed bill, LD 1313.[2]

The proposed bill seeks to legalize physician-assisted suicide and euthanasia as those terms are traditionally defined. If enacted, the bill will apply to people with years or decades to live. Individuals with money, meaning the middle class and above, will be especially at risk. I urge you to reject LD 1313.

Press Release: Maine Death with Dignity Bill Will Create a Perfect Crime

AUGUSTA, MAINE, UNITED STATES

Dore: “The proposed bill is a recipe for abuse, exploitation and legal murder.”

“Persons assisting a suicide or performing a euthanasia can have an agenda to benefit themselves.”

Contact: Margaret Dore, Esq., MBA

(206) 697-1217

Attorney Margaret Dore, president of Choice is an Illusion, which has fought assisted suicide and euthanasia legalization efforts in many states, and now Maine, made the following statement in connection with a scheduled hearing on a bill seeking to legalize assisted suicide and euthanasia in that state. (Bill LD 1313 , H.P. 948). Hearing Wednesday, 04/10/19, 9:00 A.M., Joint Committee on Health & Human Services, Cross Building, Room 209, State Capitol, Augusta Maine.

American Nursing Association's Draft Position Statement Regarding Euthanasia and Assisted Suicide Is "Misleading and Dangerous"

By Margaret Dore, Esq., MBA

The ANA Center for Ethics and Human Rights Advisory Board is seeking public comment on a proposed position statement, "The Nurse's Role When a Patient Requests Aid in Dying."

"Aid in Dying" is a traditional euphemism for assisted suicide and euthanasia. The first paragraph of the proposed statement is set forth below, followed by my responding submission.

To New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy: Veto Flawed Euthanasia Act (Bill A. 1504 Second Reprint)

Governor Murphy

By Margaret Dore, Esq., MBA

To view pdf version, click here

1.  The Act 

The Act legalizes “aid in dying,” a traditional euphemism for active euthanasia.[1] The Act is based on similar laws in Oregon and Washington State.

2.  Pushback Against Assisted Suicide       and Euthanasia

In the last ten years, nine states have strengthened their laws against assisted suicide and/or euthanasia: Alabama, Arizona, Georgia, Idaho, Louisiana, New Mexico, Ohio, South Dakota and Utah.[2]

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.

Press Release: Proposed Bill Will Create a Perfect Crime

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). 

Maryland: Attorney Sara Buscher Opposes Assisted Suicide

RE:  SB 311

Please do not vote for  this bill to be reported out of committee. Do everything you can to oppose passage.

Under the bill, safeguards end when the lethal dose is in the home. With no required witness, if the person struggled, who would know?

Slayers can inherit because 5-6A-11 (D)(2) says a death with such a lethal dose is not homicide.

Elder abuse affects 1 in 10 elders and triples their risk of death. https://www.ncoa.org/public-policy-action/elder-justice/elder-abusefacts/

Florida: Sisters Arrested After Admitting They 'Euthanized' Father, Sold Home for $120,000 Profit

Nicole Darrah, Fox News

Click here to read entire article.

Two sisters were arrested in Florida on Tuesday for allegedly admitting to law enforcement that they killed their father as part of a "premeditated" act four years ago because he refused to enter an assisted living facility.

Mary-Beth Tomaselli, 63, and Linda Roberts, 62, were taken into custody after they detailed to a male confidant whom they befriended in recent months what they had seemingly done, Pinellas County Sheriff Bob Gualtieri told reporters on Tuesday.

Nevada: Patient Protections Are Mere Window Dressing to Lull the Public Into Accepting Assisted Suicide and Euthanasia

By Margaret Dore, Esq., MBA.*

Nevada's pending euthanasia bill, S.B. 165, sets forth patient protections in sections 3 through 29, described as “safeguards, procedures, written requirements and reporting functions.”[1] The bill also repeatedly says that actions are to be done in “accordance” with the provisions of sections 3 through 29.[2] For example, the bill states:

Death resulting from a patient self-administering a controlled substance that is designed to end his or her life in accordance with the provisions of sections 3 to 29, inclusive, of this act does not constitute suicide or homicide. (Emphasis added).[3]

Federal Palliative Care Euthanasia Bill Moving

By Margaret Dore, Esq.

On January 17, 2019, the "Palliative Care and Hospice Education and Training Act" was introduced in the 116th Congress as H.R. 647 and referred to the House Committee on Energy and Commerce. No text was provided.

The Congressional website has since been updated with the posting of a complete bill, which is identical, or nearly identical, to last session's H.R. 1676, as amended. (The companion bill was S. 693).

Massachusetts Court Upholds Manslaughter Conviction for Woman Who Assisted Boyfriend's Suicide

Conrad Roy 

Alex Schadenberg
Executive Director - Euthanasia Prevention Coalition

The Massachusetts High Court upheld the voluntary manslaughter conviction of Michelle Carter for assisting the suicide of Conrad Roy who was 18 at the time of his death. Carter, who was 17 at the time of the death, was sentenced to 15 months in prison.

Utah Bill Legalizing Assisted Suicide & Euthanasia Likely Dead for 2019

Click here to view source article.

by Bob Bernick, Contributing Editor - Utah Policy.Com

A Democratic-sponsored, end of life bill is, for now, dead in the Utah Legislature.

The House Rules Committee, voting along partisan lines, refused Thursday to allow HB121 to be heard by a standing committee – thus killing the bill unless at a later date Rules members change their minds....

Unless House Democrats can get enough floor votes to lift HB121 from Rules (not likely), or unless Republicans on Rules change their minds (that could happen), end of life legislation is dead in the 2019 Legislature, before the first week is even over. 

Vote "No" on New Mexico Euthanasia Act

Click here for a pdf version to use as a handout

1.  The Act

The Act  (HB 90 as amended, and SB 153) seeks to legalize medical “aid in dying,” a traditional euphemism for active euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide.[1]

2.  Who is Especially at Risk?

Individuals with money, meaning the middle class and above.

3.  Assisting Persons Can Have an Agenda

Persons assisting a suicide or euthanasia can have an agenda. 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.[2] Consider also Graham Morant, recently convicted of counseling his wife to kill herself in Australia, to get the life insurance. The Court found:

[Y]ou counseled and aided your wife to kill herself because you wanted ... the 1.4 million.[3]