Minnesota: Vote "NO" on SF 1880!

Here is a memo with attachments in opposition to SF 1880, which seeks to legalize assisted suicide and euthanasia in Minnesota.  Major points include:

• There is no oversight at the death (even if the patient struggled, who would know?).
• The death certificate will be falsified to reflect a natural death via a terminal disease (reducing transparency, and more importantly, preventing prosecution even in the case of outright murder)
• "Eligible" people may have years, even decades, to live (people are encouraged to throw away their lives)

Margaret Dore, Esq., MBA
Law Offices of Margaret K. Dore, P.S
Choice is an Illusion, a non-profit corporation
www.margaretdore.com
www.choiceillusion.org
1001 4th Avenue, Suite 4400
Seattle, WA  98154
206 389 1754

Legalize Doc Decides

Belgian GPs 'killing patients who have not asked to die': Report says thousands have been killed despite not asking their doctor 

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3120835/Belgian-GPs-killing-patients-not-asked-die-Report-says-thousands-killed-despite-not-asking-doctor.html   Steve Doughty, Social Affairs Correspondent for the Daily Mail

Published: 18:49 EST, 11 June 2015 | Updated: 19:00 EST, 11 June 2015

Thousands of elderly people have been killed by their own GPs without ever asking to die under Belgium’s euthanasia laws, an academic report said yesterday.

It said that around one in every 60 deaths of a patient under GP care involves someone who has not requested euthanasia.

Half of the patients killed without giving their consent were over the age of 80, the study found, and two thirds of them were in hospital and were not suffering from a terminal disease such as cancer.

In about four out of five of the cases, the death was not discussed with patients subjected to ‘involuntary euthanasia’ because they were either in a coma, they were diagnosed with dementia, or because doctors decided it would not be in their best interests to discuss the matter with them.

Very often doctors would not inform the families of plans to lethally inject a relation because they considered it a medical decision to be made by themselves alone, the report published by the Journal of Medical Ethics said.

Great News! Delaware Bill Tabled in Committee

Great News!

A Delaware State Representative just wrote me that their assisted suicide proposal, HB 150,  was tabled today in Committee.  (The bill is stuck in committee).

For more information, please go here:  http://legis.delaware.gov/

Margaret Dore

Delaware Talking Points

1.  HB 150 legalizes assisted suicide for persons with a "terminal disease," which is defined as having less than six months to live.  In Oregon, which uses the same definition, young adults with chronic conditions such as diabetes are "eligible" for assisted suicide.  Such persons can have years, even decades, to live.  Consider also, Jeanette Hall, who was adamant that she would do assisted suicide, but was convinced to be treated instead.  Today, nearly 15 years later, she is "thrilled to be alive."  See  http://www.montanansagainstassistedsuicide.org/2013/04/if-kress-had-been-my-doctor-in-2000-i_27.html

2.  In Oregon, it is well-documented that Medicaid steers people to suicide through coverage incentives.  Private insurers have this same ability.  For more information, see the affidavit of Kenneth Stevens, MD, at this link:  https://maasdocuments.files.wordpress.com/2014/08/dr-stevens-affidavit_001.pdf

3.  Legalization of assisted suicide is a recipe for elder abuse. Once the lethal dose is issued by the pharmacy, there is no oversight.  Even if the patient struggled, who would know?

4.  In Oregon, other (conventional) suicides have increased significantly with the legalization of physician-assisted suicide.  In Oregon, conventional suicides are a $41 million problem due to hospitalization costs, etc.  See http://www.choiceillusion.org/2014/03/the-high-financial-cost-of-regular.html  Legalization, regardless, sends the wrong message to young people that suicide is an acceptable solution to life's problems.

For a short article about Washington's similar law, please go here: https://www.kcba.org/newsevents/barbulletin/BView.aspx?month=05&Year=2009&AID=article5.htm

Attorney slams California suicide bill

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Dore: “Even if you like the concept of assisted suicide, SB 128 is the wrong bill.”

Contact: Margaret Dore (206) 697-1217

Seattle, WA -- Attorney Margaret Dore, president of Choice is an Illusion, which has fought assisted suicide legalization efforts in many states and now California, made the following statement after the California Senate Appropriations Committee passed SB 128 on May 28, sending the assisted suicide bill to the Senate floor.

"SB 128 is sold as giving people an 'end of life option,’” Dore said. “The fact is this bill is about ending the lives of people who aren’t necessarily dying anytime soon, and giving other people the ‘option’ to hurry them along."

Dore, an attorney in Washington State where assisted suicide is legal, explained, “In my law practice, I started out working in guardianships, wills and probate, and saw abuse of all kinds, especially where there was money involved (where there's a will, there are heirs). Then, in 2008, I got dragged to a meeting about our assisted suicide law and saw the perfect crime: your heir could help sign you up, and once the lethal dose was in the house, there was no oversight. Not even a witness is required. If you struggled, who would know?"

Great News! Scottish Assisted Suicide Bill Defeated 82 to 36

A Scottish assisted suicide bill has been defeated in its parliament: 82 - 36.[1]

http://www.thecourier.co.uk/news/scotland/critics-blast-assisted-suicide-bill-1.878651

The Bill would have allowed those with terminal or life-shortening illnesses to end their suffering with the assistance of another person, known as a "licensed facilitator".

It is being championed by Green MSP Patrick Harvie following the death of independent MSP Margo MacDonald in April 2014.

Alison Britton, convener of the Law Society's health and medical law committee, said the organisation was concerned that the Bill lacked clarity and would be difficult to enforce.

She said: "We have said throughout the passage of this Bill that legislation in this area needs to be absolutely clear and those seeking to end their lives, and those who assist them, need a robust and transparent process to be certain under which conditions it would be lawful for assistance to be provided.

"We remain concerned over the lack of definition of the key terms, such as 'assistance' and 'life-shortening' and the functions of the licensed facilitator are still uncertain.

"Lack of such clarity leads to ambiguity and leaves the legislation open to interpretation."

* * *

[1] Alex Schadenberg, at http://alexschadenberg.blogspot.com/

Assisted Suicide: How One Woman Chose to Die, Then Survived

http://dailysignal.com/2015/05/18/assisted-suicide-how-one-woman-chose-to-die-then-survived/

Kelsey Harkness / May 18, 2015

In 1994, Jeanne Hall, a resident of King City, Ore., voted in favor of Ballot Measure 16, which for the first time in the United States, would allow terminally ill patients to end their own lives through physician-assisted suicide.

“I thought, hey, I wouldn’t want anyone to suffer,” Hall told The Daily Signal. “So I checked it. Then it became legal.”

That day at the ballot box, Hall never could have predicted that more than 15 years later, she would be diagnosed with inoperable colon cancer.

Doctors gave Hall, who was 55 at the time, two options: She could get radiation and chemotherapy and attempt to fight the cancer, or she could take a lethal dose of barbiturates to end her life.

“I was calling it over,” she said. “I wasn’t going to do chemo. When I heard what might take place in radiation "I wasn’t going to do it. I looked for the easy way out.”

Without treatment, Hall was given six months to a year to live, and therefore qualified for physician-assisted suicide through Oregon’s Death With Dignity law.

“She was terminal because she was refusing treatment,” Dr. Kenneth Stevens, one of Hall’s two cancer doctors, told The Daily Signal. “It’s like a person could be considered terminal if they’re not taking [their] insulin or [other] medications.”

Final Exit Network, Inc. Guilty in Assisting With Suicide

​Dakota County Attorney James Backstrom announced that a Dakota County Jury has found Final Exit Network, Inc. guilty of Assisting Another to Commit Suicide and Interference with a Dead Body or Death Scene in connection with assisting Doreen Dunn in committing suicide on May 30, 2007 at her home in Apple Valley. The jury deliberated for less than two hours.  Judge Christian Wilton set the sentencing date for August 24, 2015 at 9:00 a.m. in Hastings.  

Additional facts pertaining to this case can be found online at: Criminal Complaint Search. To view prior news releases, go to: Attorney News Releases.

Backstrom commented:  “What Final Exit Network does in aiding individuals suffering from serious medical conditions who, like Doreen Dunn, are not terminally ill but are extremely vulnerable or depressed, in taking their own lives and then covering up the truth about what occurred to the victim’s family, the medical examiner and law enforcement, is not only legally wrong it is morally reprehensible.  We are pleased to have brought this organization to justice for these crimes.”

Backstrom thanked the Apple Valley Police Department and the Georgia Bureau of Investigation who aided in the investigation of this case.  Backstrom also thanked Assistant County Attorney Elizabeth Swank and Chief Deputy Phil Prokopowicz who prosecuted the case.

California: Memo to Senate Appropriations Committee: "Vote 'NO' on SB 128: The financial impact is potentially 'enormous.'"

By Margaret K. Dore, Esq., MBA

To view a pdf version,  please click here.

A. Introduction

SB 128 seeks to legalize physician-assisted suicide.  The bill is based on a similar law in Oregon, which was enacted in 1997.  In Oregon, the law is rarely used, but since passage, there has been a significant increase in other (conventional) suicides.  This increase is consistent with a suicide contagion in which legalization and promotion of physician-assisted suicide has led to an increase in other suicides.  Moreover, the financial cost is “enormous.”  A government report from Oregon states:

In 2010 alone, self-inflicted injury hospitalization charges exceeded 41 million dollars.

This Committee must vote NO unless the proponents can show that California will not have a similar increase in conventional suicides. Otherwise, the financial cost in California could be “enormous.”

California: "SB 128 has the potential for a large and adverse financial impact."

LETTER submitted to the Senate Appropriations Committee (edited for the web):

Please accept this cover letter and memo in opposition to SB 128 for the purpose of the May 11th hearing. 

Based on the "Oregon experience," passage of SB 128 has the potential for a large and adverse financial impact on the state of California.  The cover letter explains why as follows:

SB 128 seeks to legalize physician-assisted suicide. 

In Oregon, which has had a similar law since 1997, legalization is statistically correlated with an increase in other suicides.  This increase is consistent with a suicide contagion in which the legalization of one type of suicide (physician-assisted) has led to an increase in other (conventional) suicides.  Moreover, the financial cost is "enormous."  A government report from Oregon states:

"In 2010 alone, self-inflicted injury hospitalization charges exceeded 41 million dollars."  (Emphasis added).

Here are the full links:  

https://choiceisanillusion.files.wordpress.com/2015/05/dore-ltr-ca-sen-appr-com_001.pdf

https://choiceisanillusion.files.wordpress.com/2015/05/sb-128-senate-appropriations-memo-updated.pdf

Thank you for your consideration.

Margaret Dore, Esq., MBA, President
Choice is an Illusion, a nonprofit corporation
Law Offices of Margaret K. Dore, P.S.
www.choiceillusion.org 
www.margaretdore.com 
1001 4th Avenue, Suite 4400
Seattle, WA  98154

Vermont: “Repeal the Sunset” Bill Moves Out of Committee

From True Dignity Vermont

April 24, 2015 by Administrators, To view original post, click here.

The House Human Services Committee this afternoon voted to approve S.108, the bill that calls for the repeal of the “sunset provision” in Act 39 (not to be confused with a wholesale repeal of Act 39). It is expected that the bill will be debated on the House floor next week, possibly Wednesday.

“Repealing the sunset” would mean that the law will retain the few so-called protections that were included in the original bill that was passed and became law in 2013. Without a repeal of the sunset, these minimal protections, which primarily relate to the procedure around obtaining a prescription, are scheduled to go away in July 2016.  As Guy Page testified last week on behalf of the Vermont Alliance for Ethical Healthcare, “Without the sunset, Act 39 gets an ‘F’.  With it, it rates an ‘F-minus’.  A distinction without a difference.”

Nurse Admits Killing Patients to Ease Her Workload

By John Hall for MailOnline 

 http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3032137/Nurse-Death-Vera-Maresova-admits-murdering-five-patients-potassium-injections.html#ixzz3XJ806uDP

A former nurse in the Czech Republic has admitted murdering six of her elderly patients with massive doses of potassium in order to ease her workload.

Vera Maresova, 50, confessed to killing five women and one man over a four-year period at a hospital in Rumburk - a small town in the north of the country.

Dubbed 'Nurse Death' by local media, Maresova was initially arrested over the death of a 70-year-old woman last August, but has now admitted killing five more people between 2010 and 2014 following a police investigation.

According to the prosecution, Maresova injected the potassium straight into the blood stream of her six elderly patients, which caused them to suffer heart failure and eventually death.

All of her victims were already in the intensive care unit at the hospital and it is believed Maresova thought their deaths would simply be attributed to natural causes.

Alaska: Memo Against HB 99

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

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.

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:

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:

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 

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.

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

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.)

Montana one step closer to reversing Baxter.

Today, the Montana House of Representatives voted to pass HB 477, which clarifies that "physician-assisted suicide" is prohibited and against public policy in Montana.  

To view HB 477, please click here.

Washington State: SB 5919 passes Senate!

SB 5919, clarifying that patients who request assisted suicide have the right to be told about options for cure or to extend life, has PASSED the Senate!  The vote was a bipartisan, 34-14, with one member excused.  To see the vote breakdown, click here .

Utah: Problems with H.B. 391

By Margaret Dore, Esq., MBA

H.B. 391 seeks to legalize physician-assisted suicide in Utah.  I am a lawyer in Washington State where we have a similar law.  Our law is based on a law in Oregon.

Problems include:

1.  HB 391, if enacted, will encourage people with years to live to throw away their lives.

HB 391 seeks to legalize assisted suicide for persons with a "terminal disease," which is defined as having less than six months to live.  In Oregon's law, which uses the same definition, young adults with chronic conditions, such as diabetes, are "eligible" for assisted suicide.  Such persons can have years, even decades, to live.  See https://choiceisanillusion.files.wordpress.com/2014/12/a-2270-3r-memo-12-02-14.pdf   "Eligible" patients can also have years to live because doctors can be wrong.  See https://choiceisanillusion.files.wordpress.com/2013/10/terminal-uncertainty.pdf and https://choiceisanillusion.files.wordpress.com/2014/08/signed-john-norton-affidavit_001.pdf

Massachusetts: High School Student Charged with Manslaughter for Encouraging Suicide

http://www.thesunchronicle.com/news/local_news/kp-student-charged-with-manslaughter-in-

fairhaven-friend-s-death/article_821a5d5e-be30-11e4-ada1-7b43f5417c27.html

BY JIM HAND SUN CHRONICLE STAFF | Posted: Friday, February 27, 2015 1:00 am

PLAINVILLE  A King Philip Regional High School senior has been indicted for involuntary manslaughter, allegedly for urging a friend to commit suicide. She then raised money for mental illness in the name of her friend.

Michelle Carter, 18, of Plainville was indicted as a “youthful offender” by a Bristol County grand jury, and was arraigned in New Bedford Juvenile Court.

She is accused of urging Conrad Roy III, 18, of Fairhaven and Mattapoisett to kill himself, which he did while idling a truck last July in the parking lot of a Fairhaven Kmart. Authorities said he died of carbon monoxide poisoning.

Washington State: SB 5919 on the move!

Last night, SB 5919, which clarifies that a person considering assisted suicide has the right to be told of options for cure or to extend life, has passed out of the Law & Justice Committee.

The vote was bipartisan.  The seven member committee voted as follows:  6 "do pass" and 1 "without recommendation."  See here

Marlene Deakins, RN, Supporting SB 5919

"I hope that  with the proposed bill, doctors will get the message that they need to back off , to make sure that patients are freely choosing what’s best for them, as chosen by them."

* * * 

Dear Senator Padden, Members of the Law and Justice Committee and Senator Angel:

I am a Registered Nurse.  I am writing this letter in support of SB 5919, which would make it clear that persons asking about assisted suicide remain eligible to be told about options for cure or to extend life.  I hope that this law will provide protection for people like my brother, Wes Olfert, who died a few years ago (2011) in Washington State.

When he was first admitted to the hospital, he made the mistake of asking about assisted suicide.  I say a mistake, because this set off a chain of events that interfered with his care and caused him unnecessary stress in what turned out to be the last months of his life.

By asking the question, he was given a "palliative care" consult by a doctor who heavily and continually pressured him to give up on treatment before he was ready to do so.  It got so bad that Wes became fearful of this doctor and asked me and a friend to not leave him alone with her.

I hope that  with the proposed bill, doctors will get the message that they need to back off, to make sure that patients are freely choosing what’s best for them, as chosen by them.

Please vote “yes” on SB 5919

Marlene Deakins, RN
Tuscon Arizona

Senator Jan Angel, Supporting SB 5919

This bill . . . is about choice and common sense. Patients should know all their options before having to make a life-or-death decision.

The bill does not impose any limitations on a person's ability to choose what is best for him or her. It could even be called a technical amendment as it just expands the list of information that is provided to patients before they make their decision.

Kenneth Stevens, MD, supporting SB 5919.

My name is Dr. Kenneth Stevens. I live in Sherwood, Oregon. I'm testifying in favor of Senate Bill 5919, which amends Washington's Death with Dignity Act.

I'm a cancer doctor in Oregon, where we've had the similar act since 1997. I'm also a professor emeritus at Oregon Health and Science University. I previously served as Chair of the Department of Radiation Oncology. I have treated thousands of patients with cancer.

Jeanette Hall

I practice in both Washington state as well as Oregon. I've read the proposed bill, which amends Washington's act to make it clear that patients who request a lethal dose under the act have the right to be told of treatment options for cure and to extend life.

I strongly support this bill, especially due to my experience with a patient named Jeanette Hall. The Oregon and Washington acts apply to patients predicted to have less than six months to live.  This does not necessarily mean that the patients are dying. This is true for two reasons:

WA State: Vote "YES" on SB 5919.

This is a simple bill, which clarifies that patients considering assisted suicide have a right to be told of their options for cure or to extend life. Passing the bill will be consistent with how Washington's assisted suicide act was marketed to the voters, as providing choice for patients. I urge you to vote "Yes.”

* * *

Below please find my updated memo supporting SB 5919, currently pending in the Washington State Senate. To see a print version, please click here.

Margaret Dore, Esq., MBA

www.margaretdore.com

Montana, SB 202 Defeated!

On February 11, 2012, SB 202, which would have legalized assisted suicide and euthanasia in Montana, was tabled in Committee.

Montana: Defeat SB 202!

The Montana Legislature is considering SB 202, which if passed, would legalize assisted suicide and euthanasia in Montana.

SB 202 is modeled on a similar law in Oregon.

The bill, if passed and interpreted in the same way as Oregon's law, will render young adults with chronic conditions such as diabetes, "eligible" for assisted suicide/euthanasia.  Such persons can live long healthy lives, for years, even decades.  See e.g., here, pp. 4-6 and here, p. A-39.

The bill, if passed, will create the following problems:

• It will encourage people with years to live to throw away their lives. 
• It will create new paths of elder abuse, especially in the inheritance context.  See e.g., here, p. 15 and here.
• It will empower health care systems to steer patients to suicide, which is well documented in Oregon where assisted suicide is legal.  See e.g., here, p. 16, here, p. A-49 and here.

If the bill is passed, and Montana follows the "Oregon experience," other "conventional" suicides will increase, which will create serious public welfare/financial issues in Montana (in Oregon, conventional suicides are a $41 million problem, due to hospitalizations, injuring other people, rehab, etc).  See e.g., here, p. 18 and here, pp. A-70 to A-76.

To view documentation regarding other problems with legalization, please click here for the text; click here for the attachments

Please tell the Montana Legislature to vote "NO" on SB 202.

Thank you,

Margaret Dore, Esq., MBA, President

Choice is an Illusion, a human rights organization
206 697 1217.

C & C Defeated on Home Turf!

Yesterday, a Colorado House committee summarily defeated a "death with dignity" act, which had sought to legalize assisted suicide/euthanasia in that state.

The vote was 9 to 4 to postpone House Bill 15-1135 indefinitely.

Thank you to everyone who worked so hard to make this happen!

Margaret Dore

Preventing Abuse and Exploitation: A Personal Shift in Focus. An Article About Guardianship, Elder Abuse and Assisted Suicide

By Margaret K. Dore, Esq., MBA

The Voice of Experience, American Bar Association

Volume 25, No. 4, Winter 2014

To view the original version, click here and here

I graduated from law school in 1986. I first worked for the courts and then for the United States Department of Justice. After that, I worked for other lawyers, and then, in 1994, I officially started my own practice in Washington State. Like many lawyers with a new practice, I signed up for court-appointed work in the guardianship/probate context. This was mostly guardian ad litem work. Once in awhile, I was appointed as an attorney for a proposed ward, termed an “alleged incapacitated person.” In other states, a guardianship might be called a “conservatorship” or an “interdiction.” A guardian ad litem might be called a “court visitor.”

My Guardianship Cases

Most of my guardianship cases were straightforward. There would typically be a elderly person who could no longer handle his or her affairs. I would be the guardian ad litem. My job would be to determine whether the person needed a guardian, and if that were the case, to recommend a person or agency to fill that role.

My work also included private pay cases with moderate estates. With these cases, I would sometimes see financial abuse and exploitation. For example, there was an elderly woman whose nephew took her to the bank each week to obtain a large cash withdrawal. She had dementia, but she could pass as “competent” to get the money. In another case, “an old friend from 30 years ago” took “Jim,” a 90 year old man, to lunch. The friend invited Jim to live with him in exchange for making the friend sole beneficiary of his will. Jim agreed. The will was executed and he went to live with the friend in a nearby town. A guardianship was started and I was appointed guardian ad litem. I drove to the friend’s house, which was dilapidated. Jim did not seem to have his own room. I asked him if he would like to go home. He said “yes” and got in my car. He was not incompetent, but he had allowed someone else to take advantage of him. In another case, there was a disabled man whose caregiver had used his credit card to remodel her home. He too was competent, but he had been unable to protect himself.

In those first few years, I loved my guardianship cases. I had been close to my grandmother and enjoyed working with older people. I met guardians and other people who genuinely wanted to help others.

But then I got a case involving a competent man who had been railroaded into guardianship. The guardian, a company, refused to let him out. The guardian also appeared to be churning the case, i.e., causing conflict and then billing for work to respond to the conflict and/or to cause more conflict. I have an accounting background and also saw markers of embezzlement. I tried to tell the court, but the supervising commissioner didn’t know much about accounting. She allowed the guardian to hire its own CPA to investigate the situation, which predictably exonerated the guardian. The guardian had many cases and if what I said had been proved true, there would have been political fallout. There were also conflicts of interest among the lawyers.

At this point, the scales began to fall from my eyes. My focus started to shift from working within the system to seeing how the system itself sometimes facilitates abuse. This led me to write articles addressing some of the system’s flaws.  See e.g., Margaret K. Dore, Ten Reasons People Get Railroaded into Guardianship, 21 AM. J. FAM. L. 148 (2008); Margaret K. Dore, The Time is Now: Guardians Should be Licensed and Regulated Under the Executive Branch, Not the Courts, WASH. ST. B. ASS’N B. NEWS, Mar. 2007 at 27-9, available at http://maasdocuments.files.wordpress.com/2013/08/dore-the-time-is-now-ashx.pdf

The MetLife Studies 

In 2009, the MetLife Mature Market Institute released its landmark study on elder financial abuse. see https://www.giaging.org/documents/mmi-study-broken-trust-elders-family-finances.pdf The estimated financial loss by victims in the United States was $2.6 billion per year.

The study also explained that perpetrators are often family members, some of whom feel themselves “entitled” to the elder’s assets. The study states that perpetrators start out with small crimes, such as stealing jewelry and blank checks, before moving on to larger items or coercing elders to sign over the deeds to their homes, change their wills or liquidate their assets.

In 2011, Met Life released another study available at https://www.giaging.org/documents/mmi-elder-financial-abuse.pdf, which described how financial abuse can be catalyst for other types of abuse and which was illustrated by the following example. “A woman barely came away with her life after her caretaker of four years stole money from her and pushed her wheelchair in front of a train. After the incident the woman said, “We were so good of friends . . . I’m so hurt that I can’t stop crying.”

Failure to Report

A big reason that elder abuse and exploitation are prevalent is that victims do not report. This failure to report can be for many reasons. A mother being abused by her son might not want him to go to jail. She might also be humiliated, ashamed or embarrassed about what’s happening. She might be legitimately afraid that if she reveals the abuse, she will be put under guardianship.

The statistics that I’ve seen on unreported cases vary, from only 2 in 4 cases being reported, to one in 20 cases. Elder abuse and exploitation are, regardless, a largely uncontrolled problem. 

A New Development: Legalized Assisted Suicide

Another development relevant to abuse and exploitation is the ongoing push to legalize assisted suicide and euthanasia in the United States. “Assisted suicide” means that someone provides the means and/or information for another person to commit suicide. If the assisting person is a physician who prescribes a lethal dose, a more precise term is “physician-assisted suicide.” “Euthanasia,” by contrast, is the direct administration of a lethal agent with the intent to cause another person’s death.

In the United States, physician-assisted suicide is legal in three states:  Oregon, Washington and Vermont. Eligible patients are required to be “terminal,” which means having less than six months to live. Such patients, however, are not necessarily dying.  One reason is because expectations of life expectancy can be wrong. Treatment can also lead to recovery. I have a friend who was talked out of using Oregon’s law in 2000. Her doctor, who did not believe in assisted suicide, convinced her to be treated instead.  She is alive today, 13 years later.

Oregon’s law was enacted by a ballot measure in 1997. Washington’s law was passed by another measure in 2008 and went into effect in 2009. Vermont’s law was enacted on May 20, 2013.  All three laws are a recipe for abuse. One reason is that they allow someone else to talk for the patient during the lethal dose request process. Moreover, once the lethal dose is issued by the pharmacy, there is no oversight over administration. Even if the patient struggled, who would know? [See e.g., http://www.choiceillusion.org/2013/11/quick-facts-about-assisted-suicide_11.html 

Here in Washington State, we have already had informal proposals to expand our law to non-terminal people. The first time I saw this was in a newspaper article in 2011. More recently, there was a newspaper column suggesting euthanasia “if you couldn’t save enough money to see yourself through your old age,” which would be involuntary [or non-voluntary] euthanasia. Prior to our law being passed, I never heard anyone talk like this.

I have written multiple articles discussing problems with legalization, including Margaret K. Dore, "Death with Dignity”: What Do We Advise Our Clients?," King Co. B. ASS’N, B. BuLL., May 2009, available atwww.kcba.org/newsevents/barbulletin/BView.aspx?Month=05&Year=2009&AID=article5.htm; Margaret K. Dore, Aid in Dying: Not Legal in Idaho; Not About Choice, 52 THE ADVOCATE [the official publication of the Idaho State Bar] 9, 18-20 (Sept. 2013) 

My Cases Involving the Oregon and Washington Assisted Suicide Laws

I have had two clients whose parents signed up for the lethal dose. In the first case, one side of the family wanted the father to take the lethal dose, while the other did not.  He  spent the last months of his life caught in the middle and traumatized over whether or not he should kill himself. My client, his adult daughter, was also traumatized.  The father did not take the lethal dose and died a natural death.

In the other case, it's not clear that administration of the lethal dose was voluntary. A man who was present told my client that the father refused to take the lethal dose when it was  delivered (“You’re not killing me.  I’m going to bed”), but then took it the next night when he was high on alcohol. The man who told this to my client later recanted. My client did not want to pursue the matter further.

Conclusion

In my guardianship cases, people were financially abused and sometimes treated terribly, but nobody died and sometimes we were able to make their lives much better. With legal assisted suicide, the abuse is final.  Don’t make Washington's mistake.

Margaret K. Dore (margaretdore@margaretdore.com) JD, MBA, is an attorney in private practice in Washington State where assisted suicide is legal. She is a former Law Clerk to the Washington State Supreme Court and the Washington State Court of Appeals. She worked for a year with the U.S. Department of Justice and is president of Choice is an Illusion, www.choiceillusion.org, a nonprofit corporation opposed to assisted suicide and euthanasia.

Autistic Self Advocacy Network (ASAN) Condemns Exclusion of Disabled People at NJ Hearing on Assisted Suicide Bill

http://www.notdeadyet.org/2014/12/autistic-self-advocacy-network-asan-condemns-exclusion-of-disabled-people-at-nj-hearing-on-assisted-suicide-bill.html

The Autistic Self Advocacy Network  (ASAN) has issued a statement condemning the exclusion of disabled people from testifying at yesterday’s (Dec.7) hearing on a proposed assisted suicide bill in front of the New Jersey Senate Health, Human Services and Senior Citizens Committee:
(Excerpt)

The Autistic Self Advocacy Network is deeply concerned about the omission of disabled people and representatives from disability rights organizations at yesterday’s hearing. Given that more than half of the groups in the New Jersey coalition opposing the bill are disability rights organizations and centers for independent living, it is unconscionable that the committee deliberately excluded witnesses from the disability community. Even after our community submitted a formal request for inclusion among the witnesses, the committee declined to invite a disability community representative.

Read the entire statement here.

* * *

Margaret Dore, President of Choice is an Illusion, was also excluded despite multiple requests to participate.  So the proponents' deceptively named advocacy group,  Compassion & Choices, was allowed to present unopposed by its opposition counter-part, Choice is an Illusion.  To view a legal/policy memo opposing the proposed bill to legalize assisted suicide and euthanasia in New Jersey, please go here:  https://choiceisanillusion.files.wordpress.com/2014/12/a-2270-3r-memo-12-02-14.pdf

New Jersey: Updated Legal Policy Analysis for Bill; Stacked Deck Hearing on Monday

Please click here to see an updated legal policy analysis of New Jersey's pending assisted suicide/euthanasia bill, A 2270 (3R).

The bill is scheduled to be heard before a stacked deck, invitation only, hearing, as follows: 

The Senate Health, Human Services and Senior Citizens Committee will meet on Monday, December 8, 2014 at 1:00 PM in Committee Room 1, 1st Floor, State House Annex, Trenton, NJ.

The committee will hear testimony on A2270 (3R) / S382 from invited guests only; however, members of the public are invited to submit written testimony on the bills, to OLSAideSHH@njleg.org   

Margaret Dore

If New Jersey's Assisted Suicide Bill Is Enacted, There Will be Pressure to Expand its Reach to Broader Groups of People.

By Margaret Dore, Esq., MBA

Today, the New Jersey Assembly passed a proposed assisted suicide/euthanasia bill, which goes next to the New Jersey Senate. The bill is the "third reprint" of A2270, which has a six months to live eligibility criteria for assisted suicide and euthanasia.

If enacted, there will be pressure to expand “eligibility” to broader groups of people who are not close to death.  I say this due to what’s been happening with hospice and our experience here in Washington State regarding our similar law.  See also this legal/policy analysis of the third reprint.

Hospice

Hospice has a six months to live eligibility criteria.  In August, the Washington Post reported that there “appears to be a surge in hospices enrolling patients who aren’t close to death.”[1]  This practice is resulting in the overdose deaths of non-dying people.[2]

This is consistent with what I've been hearing from people in both the US and Canada regarding the deaths of their family members.[3]

Washington State

In Washington State, our law went into effect in 2009.  Since then, we have had informal “trial balloon” proposals to expand our law to non-terminal people.  For example, there was a column in the Seattle Times, which is our largest paper, containing this suggestion for euthanasia of people who didn't save enough for their old age. The column stated:

A few [readers] suggested that if you couldn't save enough money to see you through your old age, you shouldn't expect society to bail you out.

At least a couple mentioned euthanasia as a solution.[4] 

So, you work hard all your life, pay taxes and then your pension plan goes broke, this is how society would pay you back, with non-voluntary or involuntary euthanasia?

Prior to passing our law, I never heard anyone talk like this.

Don't make Washington's mistake.

Margaret Dore is an attorney in Washington State and President of Choice is an Illusion.  For more information about problems with New Jersey's bill, please see Ms. Dore' legal/policy memo regarding that law, which can be viewed here: https://choiceisanillusion.files.wordpress.com/2014/11/nj-no-on-a2270-no-assisted-suicide-11-12-14.pdf

[1] Peter Whoriskey, “As More Hospices Enroll Patients Who Aren’t Dying, Questions About Lethal Doses Arise,” Washington Post. August 21, 2014, http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/storyline/wp/2014/08/21/as-more-hospices-enroll-patients-who-arent-dying-questions-about-lethal-doses-arise/?
[2] Id.
[3] See e.g. Carol Mungas, "I support House Bill 505, which clearly states that assisted suicide is not legal" (My husband, Dr. James E. Mungas "was effectively euthanized against his will"),  http://www.montanansagainstassistedsuicide.org/2013/03/i-support-house-bill-505-which-clearly.html; Daniela, "Euthanasia without patient consent and over the family's objection," ("Our family . . . is having emotional problems because of what we witnessed.... [N]ow I hear my grandma cry for water every night") http://www.margaretdore.org/2014/11/euthanasia-without-patient-consent-and.html and Kate Kelly, "Mild stroke led to mother's forced starvation,"("I cried much of the time, but softly, so she would not know.  I didn't want to add to her agony.")   http://www.choiceillusion.org/p/mild-stroke-led-to-mothers-forced.html
[4] To view a copy of the newspaper column, please go here: https://choiceisanillusion.files.wordpress.com/2014/10/jerry-large_001.pdf.

Whose Choice Will It Be? Telling the truth about assisted suicide. Excerpts from an NRO Interview

http://www.nationalreview.com/article/392444/whose-choice-will-it-be-interview  . . . .

Margaret Dore is a lawyer in Washington State, where assisted suicide is also legal. Dore is a former law clerk to the Washington state supreme court and president of Choice Is an Illusion, a 501(c)(4) nonprofit corporation opposed to assisted suicide and euthanasia. She talks with National Review Online about assisted suicide as it exists now and how we might make a change. — Kathryn Jean Lopez 

. . . .
Lopez: What is the absolute first thing that you would like anyone who was moved by Brittany Maynard’s life and death to know?

Dore: I would want them to know that “eligibility” for legal assisted suicide is not limited to people who are near death. This is true for the following reasons:

Under the Oregon and Washington assisted-suicide laws, assisted suicide is legal for “terminal” patients, meaning those predicted to have less than six months to live. But such predictions can be wrong. Moreover, treatment can lead to recovery. Consider Jeanette Hall, who was diagnosed with cancer in Oregon in 2000 and was adamant that she would “do” Oregon’s law. Her doctor, who didn’t believe in assisted suicide, stalled her and convinced her to be treated instead. Today, 14 years later, she is thrilled to be alive. You can see her doctor’s affidavit here.

Once assisted suicide is legal, there is pressure to expand. For example, here in Washington State, we have already had “trial balloon” proposals to expand our law to euthanasia for non-terminal people. For me, the most disturbing proposal was a discussion in our largest paper suggesting euthanasia for people who didn’t have enough money for their old age. So, if you worked hard all your life, paid taxes, and then your pension plan went broke, this is how society will pay you back? With non-voluntary or involuntary euthanasia? (The newspaper column can be read here.)

In other words, with legal assisted suicide, people with years to live are encouraged to throw away their lives. Moreover, and contrary to the media hype, legal assisted suicide (or euthanasia) may not be voluntary. . . .

Lopez: Why is the “death with dignity” language misleading?

Dore: Because it’s a euphemism, which doesn’t readily disclose that we are talking about assisted suicide and euthanasia for people who may or may not be dying anytime soon, and that such death may not be voluntary.

Lopez: Who is Compassion & Choices? Is its name misleading?

Dore: Compassion & Choices is a successor organization to the Hemlock Society, originally formed by Derek Humphry. In March 2011, Humphry was in the news as a promoter of mail-order suicide kits from a company now shut down by the FBI. This was after a 29-year-old man had used one of the kits to commit suicide. Seven months later, on October 22, 2011, Humphry was the keynote speaker at Compassion & Choices’ annual meeting here in Washington State.

Compassion & Choices’ name is misleading because it does not disclose its true nature as a suicide/euthanasia advocacy group. The name is also misleading because Compassion & Choices’ true mission is to reduce choice in health care and to change public policy so as to reduce patient cures.

Lopez: Speaking of names: How did your group arrive at Choice Is an Illusion?   

Dore: The name, Choice Is an Illusion, is a commentary on Compassion & Choices because the laws it promotes do not assure patient choice. . . .

Lopez: What might you want to leave readers with in closing?

Dore: Problems with legal assisted suicide include:

• The encouragement of people with years to live to throw away their lives.
• New paths of elder abuse, for example, in the context of inheritance.
• A push to expand euthanasia to non-terminal individuals.

Don’t make Washington State’s mistake.

To read the entire article, please go here:  http://www.nationalreview.com/article/392444/whose-choice-will-it-be-interview