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]

New Bill to Overturn Montana's Baxter Decision

Rep. Glimm

HOUSE BILL NO. 284

INTRODUCED BY C. GLIMM

A BILL FOR AN ACT ENTITLED: "AN ACT PROVIDING THAT CONSENT TO PHYSICIAN AID IN DYING IS NOT A DEFENSE TO A CHARGE OF HOMICIDE; AMENDING SECTION 45-2-211, MCA; AND PROVIDING AN EFFECTIVE DATE."

US "Palliative" Care Act has Been Reintroduced

By Margaret Dore, Esq., MBA

The "Palliative Care and Hospice Education and Training Act," formerly S. 693 and H.R. 1676, has been reintroduced in the 116th Congress as H.R. 647. I did not see a Senate version. The full text is not yet available.

The prior Act, if passed into law, would have undermined the Office of the Inspector General's (OIG's) mission to combat Medicare and Medicaid fraud concerning the federal hospice benefit. See https://www.choiceillusion.org/2018/10/memo-to-us-senate-committee-on-health.html The Act was also a "springing" or closet euthanasia bill:

Delaware: New Bill Seeking to Legalize Assisted Suicide and Euthanasia

There is a new bill seeking to legalize assisted suicide and euthanasia, as those terms are traditionally defined, in Delaware.

Click here to view the text, sorry no bill number yet.

Margaret Dore

New Site Opposing Closet Euthanasia

Today, Choice is an Illusion formally announces the launching of  "End the Abuse," a website opposed to palliative care and hospice abuse.

The site specifically addresses problems with the closet euthanasia act proposed in last year's 115th Congress, the so-called "Palliative Care and Hospice Education and Training Act."

We hope that you find the site helpful.

Federal Closet Euthanasia Act May Be Moving

By Margaret Dore, Esq., MBA

Five days ago, an op-ed appeared in the New York Post advocating for Congressional passage of the "Palliative Care and Hospice Education and Training Act."[1] The Act has not been introduced in the current (116th) Congress.[2] There are, however, rumors that it will be or that passage will occur by packaging it with other legislation. With the appearance of the op-ed, the veracity of these rumors is well founded.

The Act was introduced in the last (115th) Congress as H.R. 1676 and S. 693. Its stated purpose was to provide financial support for palliative care and hospice education centers, including direct patient care. The Act easily passed the House on a voice vote.[3]

There was and is, however, a catch.

US Euthanasia Bill All But Dead - For Now

Margaret Dore &
Dawn Eskew

This year, the US Congress considered the "Palliative Care and Hospice Education and Training Act," bills H.R. 1676 and S. 693. The Act seeks to provide financial support for palliative care and hospice education centers, including direct patient care.

The Act was viewed as noncontroversial. Indeed, H.R. 1676 passed the House on a voice vote without opposition.

There is, however, a catch.

This is because US euthanasia advocates are currently promoting "medical aid in dying" (euthanasia) as "palliative care."[1] There is a similar situation in Canada, where "lobbies are trying to influence the government to include so-called Medical Aid in Dying ... in palliative care."[2]

The significance is this: If the Act is passed into law and the above advocacy efforts are successful, medical aid in dying (euthanasia) will become part of palliative care and therefore part of the Act. More to the point, the Act will legalize and also finance euthanasia in government funded centers throughout the US. The Act is a closet or "springing" euthanasia bill.

Dore Memo to New Zealand Justice Committee: Reject End of Life Choice Bill

Click here to view a pdf version, including supporting documentation. Click the following link to view Choice Illusion New Zealand.

By Margaret Dore, Esq., MBA

I.  INTRODUCTION

I am president of Choice is an Illusion, a nonprofit corporation opposed to assisted suicide and euthanasia.[1] I am also an attorney in Washington State USA where these practices are legal.[2] Our law is based on a similar law in Oregon.[3]

My background includes providing legal analysis and/or testimony against assisted suicide and euthanasia, in 22 US states, South Africa and Australia. I have participated in public debates as well as public interest litigation.

The “End of Life Choice Bill” seeks to legalize assisted dying, which means assisted suicide and euthanasia.[4] If enacted, the bill will apply to people with years or decades to live, and provide cover for murder. I urge you to recommend to Parliament to reject this bill.

Patient-Directed Suicide Has Morphed into Family-Determined Suicide

Thomas Eppes, M.D.

To view original article, click here.

Recently the effort to legalize physician-assisted suicide has ramped up in Virginia. For 2,500 years, medicine has claimed the role of healer, but this dangerous public policy would change that by requiring a doctor’s participation in a patient’s demise .

Patients should never be conflicted about which role their physician plays.

New Zealand: From Scammers to Euthanasia Advocates, These Are Dark Days in Old Ladydom

To view original article, click here

Rosemary McLeod

OPINION: These are perilous times for tottering toward old ladydom. The women's mags cut your life support at 50 unless you're Helen Mirren, sooner if you're not, in which case you might as well sign up for the Philip Nitschke death machine, with optional funeral casket.

Linda Isner of Murdered by Hospice: Vote "No" on HR 1676, the Palliative Care and Hospice Training and Education Act

My husband Alan Isner was overdosed on Ativan Morphine and Haldol in a hospice and died when all he needed was anxiety medication. He was not suffering from pain or agitation but was given high doses of these drugs and the medical examiner's report revealed enough Morphine to kill several people. 

Proposed Federal Palliative Care Act Is a Springing Euthanasia Bill

By Margaret Dore, Esq., MBA

In 2012, an article in the New England Journal of Medicine reported that many doctors object to physician-assisted suicide.[1] The article's authors, Dr. Lisa Lehmann and Julian Prokopetz, argued back that assisted deaths need not be physician-assisted.[2] They said that a central government mechanism should provide the assistance instead:

We envision the development of a central state or federal mechanism to confirm the authenticity and eligibility of patients' requests, dispense medication [the lethal dose], and monitor demand and use.[3] 

Man Sentenced to 10 Years in Prison for Counseling Suicide to Obtain Life Insurance

Justice Peter Davis

To view original article, click here

“However, one can imagine many circumstances arising where people in positions of trust and responsibility could succumb to the temptation to counsel suicide for personal gain.”

By Hope Australia

These confronting words were spoken last week by Justice Davis in the Supreme Court of Queensland, as he sentenced Graham Robert Morant to 10 years imprisonment for counselling his wife to commit suicide.

Virginia: Legislative Panel Punts on Assisted Suicide-Euthanasia Proposal

Del. Scott Garrett, MD

To view the original article, click here.

By Katie O' Connor, Virginia Mercury

A group of lawmakers shot down proposals to allow medical-aid-in-dying, also known as physician-assisted suicide [and euthanasia], in Virginia on Wednesday in a review of a series of legislative recommendations on health care.

Del. Kaye Kory, D-Fairfax, requested that the Joint Commission on Health Care study the medical-aid-in-dying debate, in which a patient with less than six months to live obtains lethal drugs through a physician to end his or her life.

Australia: Husband Who Aided Wife's Suicide to Obtain Her Life Insurance Sentenced to Prison

Graham Morant, AAP Dan Peled

By Melanie Vujkovic

Graham Robert Morant was last month found guilty on two charges — counselling suicide and aiding suicide — for persuading his wife Jennifer Morant, 56, to kill herself in her car in 2014 and helping her buy the necessary equipment from a hardware store.

The court heard Morant was the sole beneficiary of Ms Morant's three life insurance policies, which Justice Peter Davis concluded was the motivation for his actions.

Why the Site HospiceFraud Exists

An excerpt below from "Hospice Fraud." 

This is not a site that supports hospice haters. This is a site that inspires solutions. You can't totally eliminate care for the elderly, disabled or dying or you will just have euthanasia! You have to have some type of caring whatever you call it and originally hospice was the appropriate way of caring for people using the best of science to relieve suffering without killing.

Today, much greed in the industry and those who have found ways to make a lot of money off of human suffering have changed the landscape. Hospice patients are simply a money crop.

Press Release: "Proposed Federal Hospice Act Must Be Defeated to 'Stop the Waste, Bleeding and Heartache'"

https://www.einnews.com/pr_news/465588180/proposed-federal-hospice-act-must-be-defeated-to-stop-the-waste-bleeding-and-heartache

Washington DC

Dore: "Existing federal hospice programs, such as the Medicare hospice benefit, are plagued by fraud, poor quality care, rampant abuse, arguably murder, and a gross waste of taxpayer dollars. Enacting another federal hospice program, when existing programs are far from being under control, makes no sense and will only cause more of the same."

"If my doctor had believed in assisted suicide, I would be dead"

Jeanette Hall and her son, Scott, in November 2000

By Jeanette Hall

I live in Oregon where assisted suicide is legal. Our law passed in 1997 by a ballot measure that I voted for.

In 2000, I was diagnosed with cancer and told that I had 6 months to a year to live.  I knew that our law had passed, but I didn’t know exactly how to go about doing it. I tried to ask my doctor, Kenneth Stevens MD, but he didn’t really answer me. In hindsight, he was stalling me.

Memo to the U.S. Senate HELP Committee: Vote No on the Palliative Care and Hospice Education and Training Act

By Margaret Dore, Esq., MBA

For a summary sheet including a similar House bill (H.R. 1676), click here. For a pdf version of this memo, click here.

I.  INTRODUCTION

I am an elder law attorney and president of Choice is an Illusion, a nonprofit corporation opposed to assisted suicide and euthanasia.[1] Formed in 2010, Choice is an Illusion fights against assisted suicide and euthanasia throughout the U.S. and in other countries.[2] We also fight against hospice and palliative care abuse.

S. 693, the Palliative Care and Hospice Education & Training Act," amends the existing Public Health Service Act to require financial support for “Palliative Care and Hospice Education Centers.”[3] This is a new program, which will include direct patient care.[4]

Existing federal palliative care programs, such as the Medicare hospice benefit, are plagued by fraud, poor quality care and a gross waste of taxpayer money.[5] S. 693 must be rejected unless problems with existing programs are resolved; Congress must not throw good money after bad. The bill must also be rejected for the reasons set forth below.