HB 99 seeks to legalize assisted suicide and euthanasia in Alaska.
The sponsor says that the bill applies to terminally ill patients with an “inevitable and certain death.” Eligible persons, however, may have years, even decades, to live. The bill is, regardless, a recipe for elder abuse, especially for people with money.
Other problems include: steerage to suicide by health care providers; trauma to patients; trauma to family members; and the risk of suicide contagion.
To view a detailed memo arguing against HB 99, please click here. To view the attachments, please click here.
Margaret Dore, Esq., MBA
Why Choice is an Illusion?
- Home
- Welcome
- Who We Are, What We Do and How We Do It
- US States Strengthen Laws Against Assisted Suicide
- Margaret Dore Beats the Odds
- Click Here to View Our Charitable Foundation Website
- Winning in Idaho
- Our Board
- Mother Died by Dehydration and Starvation
- Dore Law Review Article on Oregon and Washington
- Definitions
- Contact
Sunday, April 12, 2015
Choice is an Illusion has a New Website!
The website's purpose is to fight SB 128, which seeks to legalize assisted suicide and euthanasia in California. To view the new website, please click here.
Monday, April 6, 2015
California: Vote NO on SB 128
To read a legal/policy analysis against SB 128, please click here. To view supporting documentation, please click here.
Key points include:
People "eligible" for assisted suicide/euthanasia may have years, even decades, to live, i.e., if they don't die of assisted suicide/euthanasia under SB 128. The bill encourages people with years to live to throw away their lives.
The thrust of SB 128 is to protect doctors and other participants in a patient's death, including family members. This is done in three ways:
Key points include:
People "eligible" for assisted suicide/euthanasia may have years, even decades, to live, i.e., if they don't die of assisted suicide/euthanasia under SB 128. The bill encourages people with years to live to throw away their lives.
The thrust of SB 128 is to protect doctors and other participants in a patient's death, including family members. This is done in three ways:
Monday, March 30, 2015
Montana: Vote "Yes" on HB 477!
HB 477 will reverse Baxter and send a clear message that medical killings are prohibited and against public policy. Individuals will be protected from the medical establishment, individual doctors and family members with something to gain.
A. Involuntary Medical Killings.
Throughout the US, there are increasing reports of involuntary medical killings.[1] Consider a 2012 case against Kaiser Healthcare. Doctors killed the patient, a wealthy older man, through a “terminal extubation.” His daughters had allegedly urged this result in order to obtain large inheritances.[2] In Montana, examples include Dr. James Mungas, who was killed under the guise of hospice/palliative care. His widow, Carol Mungas, states:
Baxter has created confusion in the law and has emboldened some doctors and family members to publicly admit participation in assisted suicides. If HB 477 is not enacted, this situation will likely lead to defacto legality and the following problems:
1. New paths of elder abuse, especially for people with money.
Legal assisted suicide creates new paths of elder abuse. Consider, for example, the Thomas Middleton case, where legal physician-assisted suicide in Oregon was part of a financial elder abuse fraud.
2. Steerage to suicide.
It is well documented that Oregon's Medicaid program steers patients to suicide (suicide is covered in lieu of treatments for cure or to extend life). Private health plans and providers have this same ability. To learn more, see this affidavit by Oregon doctor, Kenneth Stevens, MD.
3. Pressure on patients.
See this letter by Marlene Deakins, RN, describing the pressure put on her brother after he merely asked a question about assisted suicide in Washington State.
4. More conventional suicides, including violent suicides.
In Oregon, conventional suicides, including violent suicides, have substantially increased with legalization of assisted suicide. This is consistent with a suicide contagion. The financial cost of these suicides is "enormous." For more information, click here.
5. Pressure to expand to non-terminal people.
In Washington state, there have been "trial balloon" proposals to expand its law to non-terminal people, including those who have simply fallen on hard times. See e.g., this column in the Seattle Times, suggesting euthanasia for people without money for their old age.
Contact your legislators and urge them to vote "YES" on HB 477.
* * *
[1] Peter Whoriskey, "As More Hospices Enroll Patients who Aren't Dying, Questions About Lethal Doses Arise," The Washington Post, August 21, 2014.
[2] William Dotinga, “Grim Complaint Against Kaiser Hospital,” Feb. 6, 2012.
[3] Carol Mungas, athttp://www.montanansagainstassistedsuicide.org/2013/03/i-support-house-bill-505-which-clearly.html
A. Involuntary Medical Killings.
Throughout the US, there are increasing reports of involuntary medical killings.[1] Consider a 2012 case against Kaiser Healthcare. Doctors killed the patient, a wealthy older man, through a “terminal extubation.” His daughters had allegedly urged this result in order to obtain large inheritances.[2] In Montana, examples include Dr. James Mungas, who was killed under the guise of hospice/palliative care. His widow, Carol Mungas, states:
It is traumatic, still, to realize his last communications were attempts to get help.[3]B. Likely Problems
Baxter has created confusion in the law and has emboldened some doctors and family members to publicly admit participation in assisted suicides. If HB 477 is not enacted, this situation will likely lead to defacto legality and the following problems:
1. New paths of elder abuse, especially for people with money.
Legal assisted suicide creates new paths of elder abuse. Consider, for example, the Thomas Middleton case, where legal physician-assisted suicide in Oregon was part of a financial elder abuse fraud.
2. Steerage to suicide.
It is well documented that Oregon's Medicaid program steers patients to suicide (suicide is covered in lieu of treatments for cure or to extend life). Private health plans and providers have this same ability. To learn more, see this affidavit by Oregon doctor, Kenneth Stevens, MD.
3. Pressure on patients.
See this letter by Marlene Deakins, RN, describing the pressure put on her brother after he merely asked a question about assisted suicide in Washington State.
4. More conventional suicides, including violent suicides.
In Oregon, conventional suicides, including violent suicides, have substantially increased with legalization of assisted suicide. This is consistent with a suicide contagion. The financial cost of these suicides is "enormous." For more information, click here.
5. Pressure to expand to non-terminal people.
In Washington state, there have been "trial balloon" proposals to expand its law to non-terminal people, including those who have simply fallen on hard times. See e.g., this column in the Seattle Times, suggesting euthanasia for people without money for their old age.
C. Contact Your Legislators.
Contact your legislators and urge them to vote "YES" on HB 477.
* * *
[1] Peter Whoriskey, "As More Hospices Enroll Patients who Aren't Dying, Questions About Lethal Doses Arise," The Washington Post, August 21, 2014.
[2] William Dotinga, “Grim Complaint Against Kaiser Hospital,” Feb. 6, 2012.
[3] Carol Mungas, athttp://www.montanansagainstassistedsuicide.org/2013/03/i-support-house-bill-505-which-clearly.html
Tuesday, March 17, 2015
Montana: HB 477 PASSES the House!
Yesterday, HB 477, which overrules Montana/s Baxter decision by clarifying that physician-assisted suicide is against public policy and prohibited, passed Montana's House of Representatives.
Monday, March 16, 2015
Elderly Murder-Suicide: Should We Praise Old Men Who Kill Their Wives and Themselves?
"A man who murders his sick, innocent, helpless wife is no hero."
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/elizabeth-marquardt/elderly-murder-suicide_b_1402935.html
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/elizabeth-marquardt/elderly-murder-suicide_b_1402935.html
By Elizabeth Marquardt
On Thursday, March 29, the bodies of Adrienne and Charles Snelling were found. Police believe Charles killed Adrienne -- her exact cause of death is still pending -- and then shot himself. Only last December, Charles Snelling published in the New York Times a poignant and widely-circulated piece about loving and caring for his wife with Alzheimer's disease. (Columnist David Brooks, whose query for life stories initiated Snelling's piece, wrote in his column yesterday about this case.)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)