By Margaret Dore, Esq., MBA
“Aid in Dying” has been a euphemism for physician-assisted suicide and euthanasia since at least 1992.
Per the American Medical Association, "physician-assisted suicide" occurs when a doctor facilitates a patient’s death by providing the means or information to enable a patient to perform the life-ending act. "Euthanasia" is the administration of a lethal agent by another person.
Persons assisting a suicide can have an agenda. Reported motives include: the “thrill” of getting other people to kill themselves; a desire for sympathy and attention; and wanting to see someone die.
The proposed Delaware Act (HB 140) has a formal application process to obtain the lethal dose. Once the lethal dose is issued by the pharmacy, there is no oversight. No witness, not even a doctor, is required to be present at the death.
The drugs used are water or alcohol soluble. This is significant because the drugs can be injected into a sleeping or restrained person without consent. If the person objected or struggled against administration, would anyone know?”
Current Delaware law prevents a person who kills another person, i.e., commits homicide, from inheriting from the person that he or she killed. The rationale is that a criminal should not be allowed to benefit from his or her crime.
Per the proposed Act, however, a person who intentionally kills another person may be allowed to inherit. This is because deaths occurring pursuant to the Act will be treated as natural, as if the person who died, had died from natural causes as opposed to a lethal dose."
In the event of the Act’s passage, Delaware residents with money, meaning the middle class and above, will be rendered sitting ducks to their legal heirs. Passage of the Act would create a perfect crime.
