How to Help Those Considering Suicide

By Anna Kucirkova 

We are facing a suicide epidemic in the United States, and throughout the world.

Suicide rates are up by 30 percent across the nation since 1999, according to a recent report by federal health officials. That increase comes even as the CDC notes that only about half the people who died by suicide had a known mental health condition, which has long been considered the ‘cause’ of suicide.

These facts are critical for all of us to understand, as they point to the silent and misunderstood nature of suicide, which often falls under the unfortunate umbrella term ‘mental illness.’ 

An Open Letter to the Center for Disease Control

Thank you for your press release regarding increased suicide rates in the US. Please consider the following factors not mentioned in the release.

1. The release discusses rising suicide rates begining in 1999. Oregon's assisted suicide law, legitimizing and encouraging suicide, had gone into effect just two years prior, in late 1997.

Local media then glorified assisted suicide deaths, for example, of Lovelle Svart, who was filmed taking the lethal dose and then dying at a suicide party. Indeed, local media encouraged readers to both listen and watch as Ms. Svart drank the lethal dose.

Quick Facts About New York State Euthanasia Bills (Paulin, Savino)

By Margaret Dore, Esq., MBA

For a pdf version, click here.

1.  Euthanasia & Assisted Suicide

The bills, A. 2383-A & S. 3151-A, are titled “Medical Aid in Dying.” This is a traditional euphemism for active euthanasia and physician assisted suicide. The bills seek to legalize these practices.

2.  Definitions (Traditional)

“Assisted suicide” occurs when a person provides the means or information for another person to commit suicide, for example, by providing a rope or lethal drug. If the assisting person is a

physician, a more precise term is “physician-assisted suicide.”

“Euthanasia” is the direct administration of a lethal agent to cause another person’s death. Euthanasia is also known as mercy killing.

California Judge Rejects Motion to Overturn Decision Invalidating Assisted Suicide/Euthanasia Law

Judge Daniel Ottolia has rejected a motion to vacate his decision overturning the deceptively named, "End of Life Options Act," which had legalized assisted suicide and euthanasia. 

The act remains null and void. For more information, click here  

Portugal Euthanasia Bill Defeated

"Euthanasia is a recipe
for elder abuse."

Portugal’s parliament rejected on Tuesday a bill that would have legalized euthanasia. The measure lost 115 to 110, with 4 abstentions, in the 230 seat parliament

Prior to the vote, hundreds of people protested in front of the parliament building, carrying placards, including "Euthanasia is a recipe for elder abuse."

California: Heirs Risk Forfeited Inheritance & Murder Charge If They Kill Victims Under Void Act

By Margaret  Dore, Esq.

In California, a person commits murder in the first degree via "willful, deliberate, and premeditated killing."[1] California also has "slayer statutes," providing that murderers shall not inherit from their victims. As an example, California's Probate Code states:

(a) A person who feloniously and intentionally kills the decedent is not entitled to any of the following:

(1) Any property, interest, or benefit under a will of the decedent, or a trust created by or for the benefit of the decedent or in which the decedent has an interest ...  [2]