Why Choice is an Illusion?

Monday, March 4, 2019

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]
The bill does not define accordance.[4] Dictionary definitions include “in the spirit of,” meaning "in thought or intention."[5] A mere thought or intention to comply with patient protections is good enough.

More to the point, compliance with patient protections is not required; the protections are unenforceable; they are mere window dressing to lull the public into accepting assisted suicide and euthanasia.

Without actual patient protections, the bill must be rejected.

Endnotes:

[1]  S.B. 165, Section 11.4. ,
[2]  Id., Sections 1.3, 25.1, 26.2, 33.2, 34.4, 38.1, 38.2, 39.1, 39.2.
[3]  Id., Section 25.1.
[4]  See SB 165 in its entirety.
[5]  See here and here.