tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31918103838542748212024-03-13T06:40:23.156-04:00DelawareA non-profit corporation opposed to assisted suicide, euthanasia and other forms of imposed death, worldwideUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger15125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3191810383854274821.post-42978282249997943012024-02-19T20:07:00.046-05:002024-03-08T14:47:46.918-05:00Passage of HB 140 Would Create a Perfect Crime<div style="text-align: left;">By Margaret Dore, Esq., MBA<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqJHkdwSF8IBbQMOiVAVGeIpVq_Kdtp_bxKPCZH8nhXRXJm4PYNayE4Nn9yUU_km_if67P59uIFyg54CPvTCD0Du8em2wphWZOLBSwuGBzKITtJDtbKAkWHcy38BMd5bSGAsvSwoTGIJtH8LkX4T98eSiT_mzQDkVNzw9vFfBxAkS0ekjFv6X8Q6B1htw/s450/delaware%20flag.webp" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="273" data-original-width="450" height="99" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqJHkdwSF8IBbQMOiVAVGeIpVq_Kdtp_bxKPCZH8nhXRXJm4PYNayE4Nn9yUU_km_if67P59uIFyg54CPvTCD0Du8em2wphWZOLBSwuGBzKITtJDtbKAkWHcy38BMd5bSGAsvSwoTGIJtH8LkX4T98eSiT_mzQDkVNzw9vFfBxAkS0ekjFv6X8Q6B1htw/w163-h99/delaware%20flag.webp" width="163" /></a></div><br /></div>“Aid in Dying” has been a euphemism for physician-assisted suicide and euthanasia since at least 1992.<br /><br />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.<div><br /><span><a name='more'></a></span>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.<span></span><div><br />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.<br /><br />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?”</div><div><span></span><br />Current Delaware law prevents a person who kills another person, <i>i.e.</i>, 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.<br /><br />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."<br /><br /></div><div>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.<span style="font-size: xx-small;"><br /></span></div></div>Adminhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13314132820263802243noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3191810383854274821.post-33609673499971913732024-02-14T16:41:00.005-05:002024-02-14T22:19:33.491-05:00Press Release: Proposed Bill Renders Delaware Residents Sitting Ducks to Their Heirs and Other Predators<div class="post-body entry-content" id="post-body-3708860276110999680" style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; line-height: 1.4; position: relative; width: 470px;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiFGqEjnJ2PCs3kWuRJNKZZw-adwXl0yKebsphewhITY5Hfi3HQaZBnqpSKU-rt0lIki06aTnnvT8bkBOkbUqNYIQRfP2031EECjemwo6PISkGjqBVkIVd5EUk2ZDi2lYTBOfgNpgEEYbdPG0uOquy7Zl_8LzInHZHyHz_Lj9RDjJi4_Y_fUxS37SxQ=s232" style="clear: right; color: #3d85c6; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; text-decoration-line: none;"><img border="0" data-original-height="192" data-original-width="232" height="151" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiFGqEjnJ2PCs3kWuRJNKZZw-adwXl0yKebsphewhITY5Hfi3HQaZBnqpSKU-rt0lIki06aTnnvT8bkBOkbUqNYIQRfP2031EECjemwo6PISkGjqBVkIVd5EUk2ZDi2lYTBOfgNpgEEYbdPG0uOquy7Zl_8LzInHZHyHz_Lj9RDjJi4_Y_fUxS37SxQ=w183-h151" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 1px solid rgb(111, 168, 220); box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.1) 1px 1px 5px; padding: 5px; position: relative;" width="183" /></a></div><a href="https://www.margaretdore.org/" style="color: #5b84ed; font-size: 13.2px; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">Attorney Margaret Dore</a><span style="font-size: 13.2px;">, President of Choice is an Illusion, which has fought against assisted suicide and euthanasia legalization throughout the United States, and internationally, has issued the following statement regarding House Bill 140, still pending in the Delaware General Assembly. The proposed bill seeks to legalize assisted suicide, physician-assisted suicide and euthanasia, on both a voluntary and involuntary basis. The Act, deceptively titled End of Life Options, refers to these practices as medical aid in dying.</span></div><div class="post-body entry-content" id="post-body-3708860276110999680" style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; line-height: 1.4; position: relative; width: 470px;"><span style="font-size: 13.2px;"><span></span></span><br style="font-size: 13.2px;" /><span style="font-size: 13.2px;">“</span><a href="https://repository.library.georgetown.edu/handle/10822/744116" style="color: #5b84ed; font-size: 13.2px; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">Aid in Dying</a><span style="font-size: 13.2px;"> has been a euphemism for physician-assisted suicide and euthanasia since at least 1992," said Dore. “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.”<span><a name='more'></a></span><a name="more"></a></span><p></p><div style="font-size: 13.2px;"><a name="more"></a>Dore added, “The proposed Act is based on similar acts in Oregon and Washington State. All three acts apply to persons with a six month or less life expectancy. Such persons may in fact have years or decades to live. A well known example is <a href="https://www.choiceillusion.org/2024/02/jeanette-hall-23-years-after-she-was.html" target="_blank">Jeanette Hall</a>. In 2000, she made a settled decision to use Oregon’s Act. Her doctor convinced her to be treated for cancer instead, such that she is alive today, more than twenty-three years later.” <br /><br />“I am a guardianship and elder law attorney, licensed to practice in Washington State,” said Dore. "In that capacity, I have seen the terrible things that people do to each other for money, especially in the inheritance context. Per the Delaware Department of Justice, this same or similar issue is already a problem in Delaware. Allowing legalization of assisted suicide and euthanasia will only make a bad situation worse.”<br /><br />Dore explained, “The proposed Act 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.”<br /><br />Dore elaborated, “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 patient objected or struggled against administration, who anyone know?”<br /><br />“More to the point,” said Dore, “the proposed Act allows two people to be present. One leaves alive and the other leaves dead. What happened?”<br /><br />Dore said, “Getting back to the inheritance issue, current Delaware law prevents a person who kills another person, <i>i.e</i>., 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.”<br /><br />Dore added, “Per the proposed Act, however, a person who intentionally kills another person will be allowed to inherit. This is because deaths occurring pursuant to the Act will be treated as natural, as if the person had died from natural causes as opposed to a lethal dose."<br /><br />“More to the point,” said Dore, “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 heirs and other financial predators. Passage of the Act will create a perfect crime.”</div></div>Adminhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13314132820263802243noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3191810383854274821.post-30899124921548895622023-12-21T21:01:00.002-05:002023-12-21T21:06:24.065-05:00Legalized Assisted Suicide Sends the Wrong Message<p><a href="https://notdeadyet.org/2023/09/terri-hancharick-being-disabled-doesnt-mean-death-is-better-than-life.html">https://notdeadyet.org/2023/09/terri-hancharick-being-disabled-doesnt-mean-death-is-better-than-life.html</a></p><p><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Bitter, Georgia, serif;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEg0bG2I0nVBBhUaZG4_1tltSaugQkWsG9_dSA0fV_fyckYQRMUMMN95VRPFLxkYC6F1HMoeIv32fqD-3OU18Ws6HAcKsl8cHn7Dv0CaFP4XuI2gt0Yy94yjonAP63owx2vDL8tGGY4jbmCTwcGGNoDDAI2bK2cnZNlnGwkEAke8xZDnWgRrRB-pN6cJkpo" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="990" data-original-width="854" height="199" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEg0bG2I0nVBBhUaZG4_1tltSaugQkWsG9_dSA0fV_fyckYQRMUMMN95VRPFLxkYC6F1HMoeIv32fqD-3OU18Ws6HAcKsl8cHn7Dv0CaFP4XuI2gt0Yy94yjonAP63owx2vDL8tGGY4jbmCTwcGGNoDDAI2bK2cnZNlnGwkEAke8xZDnWgRrRB-pN6cJkpo=w172-h199" width="172" /></a></div><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Bitter, Georgia, serif;">In September 2023, Delaware’s Daily State News published an </span><a href="https://baytobaynews.com/stories/hancharick-being-disabled-doesnt-mean-death-is-better-than-life,116395" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #15376b; font-family: Bitter, Georgia, serif;">opinion</a><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Bitter, Georgia, serif;"> </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Bitter, Georgia, serif;">piece by the Chair of the State Council for Persons with Disabilities who is also the parent of a person with developmental disabilities. In the article, Terri Hancharick stated in part:</span><p></p><p><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Bitter, Georgia, serif;">Delaware’s assisted suicide bill is based on legislation in Oregon, where assisted suicide was first legalized. Data from Oregon provides insight into the top reasons that patients ask for assisted suicide. The top five reasons that people gave were the loss of autonomy, being unable to participate in activities that make life enjoyable, loss of dignity, loss of bodily functions and becoming a burden on family, friends and caregivers. These reasons are all disability-related. Contrary to popular belief, pain does not even make it into the top reasons people give to justify their application for assisted suicide.<span></span></span></p><a name='more'></a><p></p><p><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Bitter, Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">These disability-related concerns are similar to the concerns that my daughter and other Delawareans with disabilities face daily ….and deserve appropriate multidisciplinary care — but they are not worth seeking death as an alternative. Legalized assisted suicide devalues the life of my daughter and her peers, and it simply sends the wrong message to the disability community, that they are better off dead than disabled.</span></span></p><p></p><h3 style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; clear: both; font-family: Bitter, Georgia, serif; line-height: 1.3; margin: 22px 0px;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: small;">***</span></span></h3><h3 style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; clear: both; font-family: Bitter, Georgia, serif; line-height: 1.3; margin: 22px 0px;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: small;">To read the full article, please go <a href="https://baytobaynews.com/stories/hancharick-being-disabled-doesnt-mean-death-is-better-than-life,116395" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #15376b;">HERE</a>.</span></span></h3>Adminhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13314132820263802243noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3191810383854274821.post-20557725963667652442023-12-03T21:23:00.010-05:002023-12-10T16:32:01.901-05:00Proposed Delaware Act (HB 140) Is Unconstitutional<p><span face="Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; font-size: 13.2px;">By Margaret K. Dore, Esq.</span></p><p><span face="Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; font-size: 13.2px;"></span></p><div class="date-posts" style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;"><div class="post-outer"><div class="post hentry" style="margin: 0px 0px 25px; min-height: 0px; position: relative;"><div class="post-body entry-content" id="post-body-2731540437268057033" style="font-size: 13.2px; line-height: 1.4; position: relative; width: 470px;"><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjL8GCilgbTAdCnG0LCEnD9EG-5W991RcHXXKjOA9K4CmTB4PSMH0WBaWrohU_8Vno_fSNQJaL3x3rI6Wc4wwKW6C3CvKt2oBU8DYLsiFytfim7PEss1GBzaPfUTO5yDDI5NxRaWT5beJe02pME-Y1s4J20Xvw19cGZFgdLK0tUsSG12-OWxvMi3JNdXBY/s320/Delaware_Legislative_Hall_Senate_chamber_DSC_3442_ad.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="214" data-original-width="320" height="126" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjL8GCilgbTAdCnG0LCEnD9EG-5W991RcHXXKjOA9K4CmTB4PSMH0WBaWrohU_8Vno_fSNQJaL3x3rI6Wc4wwKW6C3CvKt2oBU8DYLsiFytfim7PEss1GBzaPfUTO5yDDI5NxRaWT5beJe02pME-Y1s4J20Xvw19cGZFgdLK0tUsSG12-OWxvMi3JNdXBY/w189-h126/Delaware_Legislative_Hall_Senate_chamber_DSC_3442_ad.jpg" width="189" /></a></div>Delaware's Constitution has two rules to determine the constitutionality<br />of a legislative enactment: (1) the single subject rule; and (2) the object in title rule. In order for a legislative enactment to be constitutional, there must be compliance with both rules. <p></p><p>Here, the proposed Act’s title is: “The Ron Silverio/Heather Block End of Life Options Law." The title thereby implies that the Act is "optional," meaning "left to one's choice." </p><p>On close examination, however, the Act has no enforcement mechanism to ensure that the Act is voluntary. Involuntary and non-voluntary death are allowed via the Act. </p><p>The Act, as proposed, is unconstitutional. The Act cannot be legally enacted via its present title.</p></div></div></div></div>Adminhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13314132820263802243noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3191810383854274821.post-28830155208170120242022-02-12T21:41:00.002-05:002022-02-15T21:51:56.481-05:00Legal Memorandum: Euthanasia Act Must Be Rejected<p>By Margaret Dore, Esq.</p><p> <b style="font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">I. INTRODUCTION</b></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"></p><div class="separator" style="background-color: white; clear: both; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiMzoOJF0iPt-4NT1sAg8W4ywwoDA_ogctkJnaJjNdUOmvi-zgVgvoq3mV-DW4qhZ10b4U4YtEgfOCgLhAGASp9AaDFSJkOSJMQWYygcYItPNSNHh2WQUGwIjr1xEavS9bcrs45L804Rk85IYKXHf1hwurcWK1f9iMJy2_J7Sx3sqwHNhNKFO4kiXLB=s360" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; color: #5b84ed; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; text-decoration-line: none;"><img border="0" data-original-height="255" data-original-width="360" height="143" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiMzoOJF0iPt-4NT1sAg8W4ywwoDA_ogctkJnaJjNdUOmvi-zgVgvoq3mV-DW4qhZ10b4U4YtEgfOCgLhAGASp9AaDFSJkOSJMQWYygcYItPNSNHh2WQUGwIjr1xEavS9bcrs45L804Rk85IYKXHf1hwurcWK1f9iMJy2_J7Sx3sqwHNhNKFO4kiXLB=w198-h143" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 1px solid rgb(157, 184, 78); box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.1) 1px 1px 5px; padding: 5px; position: relative;" width="198" /></a></div><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">The Act, HB 140, seeks to amend Title 16 of the Delaware Code, to thereby create Chapter 25B “Relating to End of Life Options.” If enacted, the Act will legalize physician-assisted suicide and euthanasia as those terms are traditionally defined. This will be on both a voluntary and involuntary basis. The Act terms these practices medical aid in dying.</span><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">Aid in dying has been a euphemism for physician-assisted suicide and euthanasia since at least 1992.[1] The proposed Act is based on similar acts in Oregon and Washington State. Oregon’s Death with Dignity Act went into effect in 1997. Washington’s nearly identical act went into effect in 2009. </p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">All three acts apply to persons with a six month or less life expectancy. Such persons may in fact have years or decades to live. A well known example is Jeanette Hall. In 2000, she made a settled decision to use Oregon’s act. Her doctor convinced her to be treated for cancer instead, such that she is alive today, twenty-two years later.<span></span></p><a name='more'></a><p></p><a name="more" style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"></a><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"><b>II. QUALIFICATIONS</b></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">I am a guardianship and elder law attorney, licensed to practice law in Washington State. In that capacity, I have seen the terrible things that people do to each other for money, especially in the inheritance context. This same or similar issue is a problem in Delaware.[2] My publications include: “Preventing Abuse and Exploitation, A Personal Shift in Focus (An Article About Guardianship, Elder Abuse and Assisted Suicide).”[3] </p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">I am also an appellate lawyer and former Law Clerk to the Washington State Supreme Court and the Washington State Court of Appeals. I have been in private practice since 1990. I worked for a year with the United States Department of Justice. I am also president of two nonprofit corporations opposed to assisted suicide and euthanasia: Choice is an Illusion, a 501(c)4 nonprofit corporation; and the Foundation for Choice is an Illusion, a 501(c)3 public charity. </p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">I have personally appeared and testified against assisted suicide and euthanasia in 20 US legislatures and also internationally. A copy of my curriculum vitae can be viewed in the appendix, at pages A-9 through A-12. A copy of the proposed Act is also attached in the appendix, at pages A-13 through A-24.</p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"><b>III. DEFINITIONS </b></p><blockquote style="background-color: white; border: none; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p><b>A. Physician-assisted Suicide, Assisted Suicide and Euthanasia</b></p></blockquote><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">The proposed Act does not define physician-assisted suicide or euthanasia.[4] Per the American Medical Association, “physician-assisted suicide” occurs when a physician facilitates a patient’s death by providing the necessary means or information to enable the patient to perform the life-ending act.[5] For example: </p><blockquote style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"><p>[T]he physician provides sleeping pills and information about the lethal dose, while aware that the patient may commit suicide.[6]</p></blockquote><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">“Assisted suicide” is a general term in which the assisting person is not necessarily a physician. “Euthanasia” is the administration of a lethal agent by another person.[7] Euthanasia is also known as “mercy killing.”</p><blockquote style="background-color: white; border: none; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p><b>B. Withholding or Withdrawing Treatment</b></p></blockquote><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">Withholding or withdrawing treatment (“pulling the plug”) is not euthanasia if the purpose is to remove burdensome treatment, as opposed to an intent to kill the patient. More importantly, the individual will not necessarily die. Consider this quote from Washington State regarding a man removed from a ventilator:</p><blockquote style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"><p>[I]nstead of dying as expected, [he] slowly began to get better.[8]</p></blockquote><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"><span style="white-space: pre;"> </span><b>C. Word Play</b></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"><i>The proposed Act allows assisted suicide and euthanasia in substance,</i> but terms these practices medical aid in dying. <i>The Act also defines assisted suicide and euthanasia out of the Act, stating:</i></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"><i></i></p><blockquote style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"><p><i>Nothing in this chapter authorizes</i> a physician, APRN, or any other person to end an individual’s life by infusion, intravenous injection, mercy killing, or <i>euthanasia.</i></p><p><i>A request for medication to end life</i> in a humane and dignified manner under this chapter, or the fact that medication to end life in a humane and dignified manner is prescribed or dispensed under this chapter, <i>does not, for any purpose, constitute</i> elder abuse, suicide,<i> assisted-suicide,</i> homicide, <i>or euthanasia.</i> (Emphasis added).[9]</p></blockquote><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"><b>IV. HOW THE ACT WORKS</b></p><blockquote style="background-color: white; border: none; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p><b>A. “Eligible” Persons May Have Years or Decades to Live</b></p></blockquote><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">The Act applies to persons with a “terminal illness,” meaning those predicted to have six months or less to live.[10] Such persons may in fact have years or decades to live. This is true based on the Oregon and Washington experience with their similar Acts, and common knowledge that predictions of illness and death can be wrong, sometimes way wrong.[11]</p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">Patients may also have years or decades to live because treatment can lead to recovery. This was the case with Jeanette Hall, discussed supra, who initially made a settled decision to use Oregon’s Act. In a recent declaration, she states:</p><blockquote style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"><p>It has now been 21 years since my diagnosis. If [my doctor] had believed in assisted suicide, I would be dead.[12]</p></blockquote><blockquote style="background-color: white; border: none; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p><b>B. Assisting Persons Can Have an Agenda</b></p></blockquote><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">Persons assisting a suicide or euthanasia can have an agenda. Consider Tammy Sawyer, trustee for Thomas Middleton in Oregon. Two days after his death by legal assisted suicide, she sold his home and deposited the proceeds into bank accounts for her own benefit.[13] Consider also Graham Morant, convicted of counseling his wife to kill herself in Australia, to get the life insurance. The Court found:</p><blockquote style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"><p>[Y]ou counselled and aided your wife to kill herself because you wanted ... the 1.4 million.[14] </p></blockquote><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">Medical professionals too can have an agenda. New York physician, Michael Swango, got a thrill from killing his patients.[15] Consider also Harold Shipman, a doctor in the UK, who not only killed his patients, but stole from them and in one case made himself a beneficiary of the patient’s will.[16]<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"><span style="white-space: pre;"> </span><b>C. Voluntariness Is Not Assured</b></p><blockquote style="background-color: white; border: none; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p><b>1. No oversight at the death</b></p></blockquote></blockquote><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">The Act has a formal application process to obtain the lethal dose.[17] Once the lethal dose is issued by the pharmacy, there is no oversight. [18] No witness, not even a doctor, is required to be present at the death.[19] </p><blockquote style="background-color: white; border: none; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p><b>2. Even if the patient struggled, who would know? </b></p></blockquote></blockquote><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">The Act has no required oversight over administration of the lethal dose.[20] In addition, the drugs used are water or alcohol soluble, such that they can be injected into a sleeping or restrained person without consent.[21] Alex Schadenberg, Executive Director for the Euthanasia Prevention Coalition, puts it this way:</p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"></p><blockquote style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">With assisted suicide laws in Washington and Oregon [and with the proposed Delaware Act], perpetrators can ... take a “legal” route, by getting an elder to sign a lethal dose request. <i>Once the prescription is filled, there is no supervision over administration. Even if the patient struggled, “who would know?”</i> (Emphasis added).[22]</blockquote><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"></p><blockquote style="background-color: white; border: none; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p><b>D. The Act Allows Euthanasia as Traditionally Defined</b></p></blockquote><blockquote style="background-color: white; border: none; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p><b>1. Self-administration is not required</b></p></blockquote></blockquote><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">The Act repeatedly describes the lethal dose as being self-administered.[23] There is no language, however, that self-administration is required. </p><blockquote style="background-color: white; border: none; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p><b>2. The lethal dose is “medication”</b></p></blockquote></blockquote><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">The proposed Act repeatedly refers to the lethal dose as “medication” to end a patient’s life.[25] The lethal dose is also a prescription drug (or drugs). Generally accepted medical practice allows doctors and family members to administer prescription drugs to a patient.[26] If the medication/prescription drug administered is a lethal dose, this is euthanasia as traditionally defined. </p><blockquote style="background-color: white; border: none; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p><b>3. The Americans With Disability Act would override any prohibition of euthanasia</b></p></blockquote></blockquote><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">The Americans with Disability Act (ADA) is a US federal civil rights law “that prohibits discrimination against individuals with disabilities in every day activities, including medical services.”[27] Here, the proposed Act refers to the lethal dose as a medication to be prescribed, thereby rendering it a medical service. </p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">Per the ADA, medical care providers are required “to make their services available in an accessible manner.”[28] This includes:</p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"></p><blockquote style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">reasonable modifications to policies, practices, and procedures when necessary to make health care services fully available to individuals with disabilities, unless the modifications would fundamentally alter the nature of the services ....[29]</blockquote><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">Per the proposed Act, the fundamental nature of the services is the provision of a lethal dose of medication to end a patient’s life. If, for the purpose of argument, the proposed Act can be read as requiring self-administration, the ADA would nonetheless require providers to make a reasonable modification for individuals unable to self-administer. For example, by providing the assistance of another person to administer the lethal dose. This would be euthanasia as traditionally defined.</p><blockquote style="background-color: white; border: none; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p><b>E. Administration of the Lethal Dose Is a “Right”</b></p></blockquote><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">The proposed Act describes individuals as having a right to self-administer medication to end their lives. The Act states:</p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"></p><blockquote style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"><i>A terminally ill adult individual </i>who has decision-making capacity <i>has the right to </i>request and <i>self-administer medication to end their life</i> in a humane and dignified manner. (Emphasis added).[30]</blockquote><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">In 2016, the Supreme Court of New Mexico addressed the practical consequence of such a right, that it would lead to voluntary or involuntary euthanasia. The Court stated:</p><blockquote style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"><p>[W]e agree with the legitimate concern that recognizing a right to physician aid in dying [meaning physician-assisted suicide] will lead to voluntary or involuntary euthanasia because if it is a right, it must be made available to everyone, <i>even when a duly appointed surrogate makes the decision, and even when the patient is unable to self-administer the life-ending medication....</i> (Emphasis added).[31] </p></blockquote><blockquote style="background-color: white; border: none; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p><b>F. Deaths Via the Act Will Be Natural as a Matter of Law</b></p></blockquote><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">Delaware death certificates have six categories for reporting the manner of death, four of which are substantive: suicide; homicide; accident; and natural.[32]</p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">In the event that the proposed Act is enacted, deaths per the Act will not constitute suicide or homicide. The Act states:</p><blockquote style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"><p><i>[T]he fact that medication to end life </i>in a humane and dignified manner<i> is prescribed or dispensed under this chapter, does not, for any purpose, constitute </i>elder abuse, suicide, assisted-suicide <i>[or] homicide,</i> or euthanasia. (Emphasis added).[33]</p></blockquote><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">Resulting deaths will also not be an accident, due to deaths having been an intended event per the Act. This leaves the fourth and last substantive category: “natural.” Deaths occurring pursuant to the Act will be natural as a matter of law.</p><blockquote style="background-color: white; border: none; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p><b>G. Delaware Residents Will Be Rendered Sitting Ducks to Their Heirs and Other Predators</b></p></blockquote><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">Delaware’s slayer statute prevents a person who commits homicide against a decedent, from inheriting from said decedent. The statute’s definition of slayer includes: </p><blockquote style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"><p>Any person ... who is determined beyond a reasonable doubt by a court of competent jurisdiction to have committed a homicide against a decedent.[34]</p></blockquote><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">The rationale is that a criminal should not be allowed to benefit from his or her crime.[35]</p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">Per the proposed Act, however, a person who intentionally kills another person pursuant to the Act will be allowed to inherit. This is due to the language set forth above, providing that deaths occurring pursuant to the Act be certified as natural.</p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">More to the point, 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 heirs and other financial predators.</p><blockquote style="background-color: white; border: none; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p><b>H. Dr. Shipman and the Call for Death Certificate Reform</b></p></blockquote><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">Per a 2005 article in the UK’s Guardian newspaper, there was a public inquiry regarding Dr. Shipman, which determined that he had “killed at least 250 of his patients over 23 years.”[36] The inquiry also found:</p><blockquote style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"><p><i>that by issuing death certificates stating natural causes, the serial killer [Shipman] was able to evade investigation by coroners.</i> (Emphasis added).[37]<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span></p></blockquote><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">Per a subsequent article in 2015, proposed reforms included having a medical examiner review death certificates, so as to improve patient safety.[38] Here, the proposed Act is a move in the opposite direction to require that deaths via assisted suicide and euthanasia be reported as natural. If enacted, doctors and other involved persons will be legally enabled to kill under mandatory legal cover. Perpetrators will be allowed to inherit and keep the money.</p><blockquote style="background-color: white; border: none; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p><b>I. Purported Responsibilities Are Illusory and Unenforceable</b></p></blockquote><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">The Act features 14 responsibilities that the attending physician or attending APRN must do prior to prescribing the lethal dose.[39] On close examination, however, compliance with the 14 responsibilities is not actually required. This is due to responsibility No. 13, providing that the physician or APRN is merely to ensure that all “appropriate” steps are carried out in “accordance” with the Act.[40]</p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">The Act does not define “appropriate” or “accordance.”[41] Dictionary definitions of appropriate include “suitable or proper” in the circumstances.[42] Dictionary definitions of accordance include “in the spirit of,” meaning “in thought or intention.”[43]</p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">Per these definitions, the view of the attending physician or attending APRN as to what is “suitable or proper” is sufficient for compliance with the 14 responsibilities. The “thought or intention” of the attending physician or attending APRN is similarly sufficient. The Act’s 14 responsibilities are thereby neutralized to whatever the attending physician or attending APRN views as suitable or proper, or has a thought or intention to do. More to the point, the purported mandatory responsibilities are illusory and unenforceable.</p><blockquote style="background-color: white; border: none; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p><b>J. The Act’s Preambles Must Give Way</b></p></blockquote><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">A preamble is an introductory statement, especially “the introductory part of a constitution or statute stating the reasons for and intent of a law.” [44]</p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">A preamble “should be read in harmony with the statute that it introduces, whenever possible.” However, “[t]o the extent that the preamble is at variance with the clear and unambiguous language of the statute, the preamble must give way.” (Citations omitted; emphasis added).[45]</p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">Here the Act has two preambles. The first preamble consists of five “whereas” statements, which can be viewed in the appendix at page A-13. The second preamble consists of § 2501B, titled “Purpose and Intent,” attached in the appendix at pages A-13 and A-14. Both preambles are at variance with the body of the Act, such that they must be ignored or set aside. Please see below.</p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"><span style="white-space: pre;"> </span><b>1. The first preamble</b></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">The first preamble, set forth in the Act at lines 1 to 13, implies that persons using the Act will be “free from coercion.”[46] This, of course, will not be the case given the complete lack of oversight at the death: “Even if the patient struggled, ‘who would know?’”[47]</p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"><span style="white-space: pre;"> </span><b>2. The second preamble</b></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">The second preamble states that an individual “should not be coerced, pressured, or otherwise compelled to take medication to end their life.”[48] “Should not” does not mean “must not.” The second preamble is, regardless, contrary to the Act because it implies that the Act is safe for patients, which is not true. The Act’s second preamble must give way. </p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"><span style="white-space: pre;"> </span><b>K. Civil and Criminal Liability</b></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">Persons who attempt to protect another person from the Act, for example, by seeking the appointment of a guardian to prevent the person’s death, will risk civil and criminal liability for negligence, recklessness, or intentional misconduct. The Act, § 2513B, states:</p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"></p><blockquote style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"><p>(c) <i>A request for medication to end life</i> in a humane and dignified manner under this chapter, or the fact that medication to end life in a humane and dignified manner is prescribed or dispensed under this chapter, <i>does not solely constitute neglect or elder abuse for any purpose or provide the sole basis for the appointment of a guardian</i> or involuntary mental health treatment. <span style="white-space: pre;"> </span></p><p>(d) <i>This section does not limit civil or criminal liability for negligence, recklessness, or intentional misconduct. </i>(Emphasis added).[49]</p></blockquote><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"><b>V. CONCLUSION</b><span style="white-space: pre;"> </span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">Adults in Delaware are already a target of abuse and exploitation. With legal assisted suicide and euthanasia, the abuse will be final. The proposed Act must be rejected.</p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"><b>ENDNOTES:</b></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">[1] Cf. Maria T. CeloCruz, “Aid-in-Dying: Should We Decriminalize Physician-Assisted Suicide and Physician-Committed Euthanasia?,” American Journal of Law and Medicine, 1992. Abstract attached in the appendix at page A-1.</p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"><span style="font-size: 13.2px;">[2] Delaware Department of Justice Brochure, “Stop Abuse of the Vulnerable and Elderly,” in the appendix, at pages A-2 and A-3.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">[3] The Voice of Experience, American Bar Association, Volume 25, No. 4, Winter 2014. Copy in the appendix, at pages A-4 to A-8.</p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">[4] The Act can be viewed in the appendix at pages A-13 through A-24.</p><div style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">[5] AMA Code of Medical Ethics Opinion 5.7, in the appendix at page A-25.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"><br /></div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">[6] Id.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"><br /></div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">[7] AMA Code of Medical Ethics Opinion 5.8, in the appendix at page A-26.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"><br /></div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">[8] Nina Shapiro, Terminal Uncertainty: Washington’s New “Death With Dignity” law allows doctors to help people commit suicide–once they’ve determined that the patient has only six months to live. But what if they’re wrong?” <i>The Seattle Weekly</i>, 01/13/09, excerpts at A-27 to A-29; quote at A-29.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"><br /></div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">[9] The Act, § 2512 B, lines 276 to 280, in the appendix at page A-22.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"><br /></div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">[10] The Act states:</div><blockquote style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">“Terminal illness” means an incurable and irreversible disease, illness, or condition that as a medical probability, will result in death within 6 months. </blockquote><div style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">The Act, § 2502B(16), lines 79-80, in the appendix at page A-15.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"><br /></div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">[11] Cf. Jessica Firger, “12 million Americans misdiagnosed each year,” CBS NEWS, 04/17/14; and Nina Shapiro, “Terminal Uncertainty,” supra at note 8.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"><br /></div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">[12] Jeanette Hall Declaration, 11/30/21, Appendix, pp. A-30 to A-31, ¶4.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"><br /></div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">[13] "Sawyer Arraigned on State Fraud Charges," KTVZ.COM, 09/07/11, at A-32.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"><br /></div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">[14] R v Morant [2018], QSC 251, Order dated 11/02/18, <a href="https://archive.sclqld.org.au/qjudgment/2018/QSC18-251.pdf" style="color: #5b84ed; text-decoration-line: none;">https://archive.sclqld.org.au/qjudgment/2018/QSC18-251.pdf</a> , excerpts attached in the appendix, at A-33 and A-34.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"><br /></div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">[15] Charlie Leduff, “Prosecutors Say Doctor Killed to Feel a Thrill,” The New York Times, 09/07/00, excerpts in the appendix, at pages A-35 to A-37.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"><br /></div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">[16] David Batty, “Q & A: Harold Shipman,” The Guardian, 08/25/05, attached in the appendix, at pages A-38 to A-40. Also available at <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/society/2005/aug/25/health.shipman" style="color: #5b84ed; text-decoration-line: none;">https://www.theguardian.com/society/2005/aug/25/health.shipman</a></div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"><br /></div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">[17] See the proposed Act, in the appendix, at pages A-13 through A-24.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"><br /></div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">[18] Id.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"><br /></div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">[19] Id.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"><br /></div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">[20] Id.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"><br /></div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">[21] The drugs used have included Secobarbital, Pentobarbital and Phenobarbital, which are water or alcohol soluble.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"><br /></div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">[22] Alex Schadenberg, Letter to the Editor, “Elder abuse a growing problem,” <i>The Advocate</i>, Official Publication of the Idaho State Bar, October 2010.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"><br /></div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">[23] See the proposed Act, at lines 20, 23, 29, 59, 76, 77, 192-3, 208, 284 and 297; in the appendix at pages A-13 to A-23. </div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"><br /></div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">[24] See the proposed Act in its entirety, in the appendix, at A-13 to A-24.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"><br /></div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">[25] Id.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"><br /></div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">[26] See for example, Declaration of Kenneth Stevens, MD, stating:</div><blockquote style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"><i>Generally accepted medical practice allows a doctor, or a person acting under the direction of a doctor, to administer prescription drugs to a patient. Common examples of persons acting under the direction of a doctor include: nurses and other healthcare professionals</i> who act under the direction of a doctor to administer drugs in a hospital setting; ... <i>and adult children who act under the direction of a doctor to administer drugs to their parents in a home setting.</i> (Emphasis added).</blockquote><div style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">Attached in the appendix, at pages A-41 to A-43, quote at A-43.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"><br /></div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">[27] “Americans with Disabilities Act: Access to Medical Care for Individuals with Mobility Disabilities,” July 2010, Part I. Full document available at <a href="https://www.ada.gov/medcare_mobility_t.a/medcare_ta.htm" style="color: #5b84ed; text-decoration-line: none;">https://www.ada.gov/medcare_mobility_t.a/medcare_ta.htm</a></div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"><br /></div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">[28] Id.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"><br /></div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">[29] Id.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"><br /></div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">[30] The Act, § 2501B, lines 20-21, in the appendix, at page A-13.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"><br /></div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">[31] Morris v. Brandenburg, 376 P.3d 836, 848 (2016).</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"><br /></div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">[32] The other two categories are “pending investigation” and “could not be determined.” See State of Delaware Certificate of Death, in the appendix, at page A-44.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"><br /></div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">[33] The Act, § 2512B, lines 278 to 280, in the appendix, at page A-22.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"><br /></div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">[34] 12 DE Code § 2322(3)b., in the appendix, at page A-45.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"><br /></div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">[35] Cf. Ilene S. Cooper and Jaclene D'Agostino, "Forfeiture and New York's 'Slayer Rule',” NYSBA Journal, p.30, March/April 2015.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"><br /></div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">[36] David Batty, “Q & A: Harold Shipman,” The Guardian, 08/25/05, in the appendix, at pages A-38 to A-40; quote at A-40. The article is also available at <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/society/2005/aug/25/health.shipman" style="color: #5b84ed; text-decoration-line: none;">https://www.theguardian.com/society/2005/aug/25/health.shipman</a></div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"><br /></div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">[37] Id.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"><br /></div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">[38] Press Association, “Death Certificate Reform Delays ‘Incomprehensible’,” <i>The Guardian</i>, 01/21/15. Article in the appendix, at pages A-46 to A-47.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"><br /></div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">[39] The Act, § 2508B, lines 166 to 237, in appendix at pages A-18 to A-21.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"><br /></div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">[40] The Act, § 2508B, lines 167 to 169 and 219 to 220, states:</div><blockquote style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">An attending physician or attending APRN must do all of the following before prescribing medication to an individual who provides a document under § 2505B of this title that will end the individual’s life in a humane and dignified manner: ...<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span></blockquote><blockquote style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">Ensure that all <i>appropriate</i> steps are carried out in <i>accordance</i> with this chapter before writing a prescription for medication [lethal dose] to end the individual’s life.... (Emphasis added).</blockquote><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">[41] See the Act in its entirety, in the appendix at pages A-13 to A-24. </p><div style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">[42] Appendix at page A-48.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">[43] Id., at pages A-49 and A-50.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"><br /></div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">[44] <a href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/preamble" style="color: #5b84ed; text-decoration-line: none;">https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/preamble</a>, definition attached in the appendix at page A-51.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"><br /></div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">[45] <i>Calabotta v. Phibro Animal Health Corporation</i>, 460 N.J.Super. 38, 62, 213 A.3d 210 (2019).</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"><br /></div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">[46] The phrase, “free from coercion,” can be viewed in the appendix at page A-13, line 2.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"><br /></div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">[47] Alex Schadenberg, supra at note 22.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"><br /></div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">[48] The Act, § 2501B, line 22, attached in the appendix at page A-13.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"><br /></div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">[49] Lines 306 to 310, in the appendix at page A-23.</div>Adminhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13314132820263802243noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3191810383854274821.post-85636473879773887162019-11-18T18:54:00.001-05:002024-01-25T19:10:45.600-05:00Seemingly Dead Euthanasia Bill Could Start to MoveBy Margaret Dore, Esq., MBA<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Alex Schadenberg</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">Donna Latteri</span></td></tr>
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<a href="https://legis.delaware.gov/json/BillDetail/GenerateHtmlDocument?legislationId=47408&legislationTypeId=1&docTypeId=2&legislationName=HB140" target="_blank">HB 140</a>, while it failed to pass in the 2019 legislative session or even come to a vote, is still alive due to Delaware's <a href="https://legis.delaware.gov/Search/Global?searchTerm=140" target="_blank">having a two year legislative cycle</a>.<br />
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Per Alex Schadenberg, Executive Director of the Euthanasia Prevention Coalition, the seemingly dead bill could start moving in the 2020 session. He's right.<br />
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Adminhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13314132820263802243noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3191810383854274821.post-43864691726811200532019-08-05T22:18:00.001-04:002024-02-14T21:33:18.389-05:00Euthanasia Bill Fails to Move<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-9SbwmWUHrTc/XUjj6eA7J6I/AAAAAAAAEjw/sbY60z9ZtH8y7MyfycZMf41WZXb3Xd8ugCLcBGAs/s1600/Photo%2BBess%2BMcAneny%2B.75.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="135" data-original-width="135" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-9SbwmWUHrTc/XUjj6eA7J6I/AAAAAAAAEjw/sbY60z9ZtH8y7MyfycZMf41WZXb3Xd8ugCLcBGAs/s1600/Photo%2BBess%2BMcAneny%2B.75.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Bess McAneny<br />
testifying against bill</td></tr>
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<a href="https://legis.delaware.gov/json/BillDetail/GenerateHtmlDocument?legislationId=47408&legislationTypeId=1&docTypeId=2&legislationName=HB140">HB 140</a> is dead for now. The bill had sought to legalize medical "aid in dying," which is a euphemism for active euthanasia.<br />
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After a hearing before the House Health & Human Development Committee, the main sponsor, Paul Baumbach, requested that the committee forgo holding a vote.<br />
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No vote was taken.<br />
<br />
Margaret Dore<br />
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Adminhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13314132820263802243noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3191810383854274821.post-14428910397910318832018-01-24T20:42:00.000-05:002018-01-24T20:45:29.485-05:00Dore Letter Opposing HB 160<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-MuTLyU5CS_c/Wmk1o6EDPWI/AAAAAAAACBM/W9k4E4__Ww0s4fJqPZinmsBZo9WgIJWGACLcBGAs/s1600/Capitol%2Bbldg%2Bauto%2Bcorrect.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="255" data-original-width="360" height="141" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-MuTLyU5CS_c/Wmk1o6EDPWI/AAAAAAAACBM/W9k4E4__Ww0s4fJqPZinmsBZo9WgIJWGACLcBGAs/s200/Capitol%2Bbldg%2Bauto%2Bcorrect.jpg" width="200" /></a><span style="font-size: small;">I am an elder law and guardianship attorney in Washington State where assisted suicide is legal. Like </span><span style="font-size: small;">HB 160, our law is modeled on a similar law in Oregon. I urge you to not make our mistake. <br /><br />
I have three points:</span><br />
<a name='more'></a><span style="font-size: small;"><br />1. HB 160 is not limited to persons near death, with the most obvious reason being that predictions of life expectancy can be wrong, sometimes way wrong. This can be due to medical error (the test results got switched) and because predicting life expectancy is not an exact science. Cf. <a href="http://www.choiceillusiondelaware.org/p/nina-shipiro-for-pdf-click-here.html">http://www.choiceillusiondelaware.org/p/nina-shipiro-for-pdf-click-here.html</a></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://www.choiceillusiondelaware.org/p/nina-shipiro-for-pdf-click-here.html"><br /></a>2. Perhaps more importantly, the six months to live criteria will likely be determined "without treatment" so that HB 160 will apply to people with treatable conditions. This is to the how the Oregon model law is interpreted in practice. A recent report by Fabian Stahle, a Swede, puts it this way:
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<dd>Proponents sell the Oregon model assuring us that assisted suicide will only apply to dying people when all hope is lost. It is "completely misleading." <a href="https://choiceisanillusion.files.wordpress.com/2018/01/fabian-stahle-article-on-oregon.pdf">https://choiceisanillusion.files.wordpress.com/2018/01/fabian-stahle-article-on-oregon.pdf</a></dd></dl>
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<span style="font-size: small;">3. The bill, regardless, is stacked against the individual with the most obvious reason being a complete lack of oversight at the death. Even if the patient struggled, who would know? This is especially an issue for people with money, meaning the middle class and above. As an elder law attorney, I have seen the terrible things that family members and other financial predators will do for money. It doesn't even have to be a lot of money. And there is generally no recourse. Starting a lawsuit or taking other action will not bring mom or dad back, there are often difficult proof problems given that the main witness, mom or dad, is dead. And who wants to air the dirty laundry? <br /><br />
HB 160 is worse due to the required falsification of the death certificate to reflect a death due to terminal illness, which gives family members and other predators a "stay out of jail free card." If enacted, HB 160 will create the perfect crime. See <a href="http://www.choiceillusiondelaware.org/p/the-bill-will-create-perfect-crime.html">http://www.choiceillusiondelaware.org/p/the-bill-will-create-perfect-crime.html<br /><br />
</a>To learn more about problems with HB 160, please go here: <a href="http://www.choiceillusiondelaware.org/">www.choiceillusiondelaware.org</a> <br /><br />
Please vote "No" on HB 160.<br /><br />
Margaret Dore, Esq., MBA, President<br />
Law Offices of Margaret K. Dore, PS<br />
Choice is an Illusion, a nonprofit corporation<br />
<a eudora="autourl" href="http://www.choiceillusion.org/">www.margaretdore.org<br />
</a><a eudora="autourl" href="http://www.choiceillusion.org/">www.choiceillusion.org<br />
</a><a href="http://www.choiceillusiondelaware.org/">www.choiceillusiondelaware.org</a> <br />
1001 4th Avenue, Suite 4400<br />
Seattle, WA 98154<br />
<a href="https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/#inbox/tel:(206)%20697-1217">206 697 1217</a></span>Adminhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13314132820263802243noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3191810383854274821.post-50009314471337768032018-01-24T18:58:00.000-05:002018-12-05T02:23:49.940-05:00Death Certificate Falsification Requires Defeat of HB 160<div style="text-align: right;">
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-gHrDs-WK6AU/Wmkgi7THKwI/AAAAAAAAB_0/EW9cJkVAViw8jwQecrVf5NtUsPQoD8QUQCLcBGAs/s1600/Photo%2BKirk%2BAllison%2Bwarm%2Bcolors%2Bcropped.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="253" data-original-width="229" height="200" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-gHrDs-WK6AU/Wmkgi7THKwI/AAAAAAAAB_0/EW9cJkVAViw8jwQecrVf5NtUsPQoD8QUQCLcBGAs/s200/Photo%2BKirk%2BAllison%2Bwarm%2Bcolors%2Bcropped.jpg" width="181" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Kirk Allison, PhD, MS</td></tr>
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Dear Legislators:<br />
<br />
I directed the Program in Human Rights and Health at the University of Minnesota School of Public Health from 2006-2016 and am a past chair of the American Public Health Association's Ethics Special Primary Interest Group (now Ethics Section).<br />
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While working on my dissertation I was a visiting preceptor (research rotation) at the Hennepin County (Minnesota) Medical Examiner's Office. It was greatly impressed upon me the need for scientific accuracy in the medico-legal documentations of death.<br />
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<br />
HB 160 states regarding death by lethal ingestion, "The death certificate must list the underlying terminal illness as the cause of death."<br />
<br />
The falsification of medical-legal documents for the sake of social sensibilities and legal impunity will protect abuse by making systematic patterns non-tracable and non-prosecutable.<br />
<br />
It constitutes a form of state-imposed corruption of physicians and registrars which does not protect the public, nor the integrity of the public health vital records and data. It is done for no other context where possible stigma is present (deaths from overdose, alcohol, or socially stigmatized diseases).<br />
<br />
You should oppose this measure.<br />
<br />
Cordially,<br />
<br />
Kirk C. Allison, PhD, MSAdminhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13314132820263802243noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3191810383854274821.post-22680812177876779142018-01-24T16:34:00.000-05:002018-01-24T16:34:29.993-05:00Compassion & Choices Is a Successor Organization to the Hemlock Society<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Z1qrvpu1BPg/Wmj6ftmHRYI/AAAAAAAAB_U/glYCQAUYbQInlm6sfpmwRzuXx9KCGKEagCLcBGAs/s1600/Schrempp%2B.5%2BLightened.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="357" height="200" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Z1qrvpu1BPg/Wmj6ftmHRYI/AAAAAAAAB_U/glYCQAUYbQInlm6sfpmwRzuXx9KCGKEagCLcBGAs/s200/Schrempp%2B.5%2BLightened.jpg" width="142" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Theresa Schrempp</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Dear Editor:</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">I am a lawyer in Washington State where assisted-suicide is legal. </span><br />
<div class="title-block">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="title-block">
</div>
<div class="asset-main">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Your readers should know that Compassion & Choices is a successor organization to the Hemlock Society, originally formed by Derek Humphry. In 2011, Humphry was the keynote speaker at Compassion & Choices’ annual meeting here in Washington State. In 2011, he was also 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 used one of the kits to commit suicide.</span><br />
<a name='more'></a><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">In 2007, Compassion & Choices was a plaintiff in Montana’s assisted-suicide case. Compassion & Choices requested legalization of assisted-suicide for “terminally ill adult patients.” The definition of this phrase was broad enough to include an otherwise healthy 18 year old who is insulin dependent or a young adult with stable HIV/AIDS. Such persons can live for decades with appropriate medical treatment.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Once someone is labeled “terminal,” an easy justification can be made that their treatment should be denied in favor of someone more deserving. Those who believe that legalizing assisted-suicide will promote free choice may discover that it does anything but.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Theresa Schrempp, Esq.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">To view letter as published, <a href="http://helenair.com/news/opinion/readers_alley/assisted-suicide-law-could-lead-to-patient-mistreatment/article_32bac11c-4985-11e2-9338-0019bb2963f4.html?print=true&cid=print" target="_blank">click here</a>.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<div class="asset-main">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>Supporting authority below:</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">1. This is a link to Compassion & Choices' newsletter announcing that Humphry would be the keynote speaker at its annual meeting in Washington State on October 22, 2012: </span><a eudora="autourl" href="http://choiceisanillusion.files.wordpress.com/2011/10/derek.pdf"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="color: #3d85c6;">http://choiceisanillusion.files.wordpress.com/2011/10/derek.pdf</span></span></a><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">2. This is an excerpt from Oregon's <i>Register-Guard</i> newspaper:</span></div>
<div class="asset-main">
<dl>
<dl><dd><span style="font-family: inherit;">"A spotlight was cast on the mail-order suicide kit business after a 29-year-old Eugene man committed suicide in December using a helium hood kit. The <i>Register-Guard</i> traced the $60 kit to [the company, which] has no website and does no advertising; clients find [the] address through the writings of Humphry."</span></dd></dl>
</dl>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">3. Here is a link to my opinion letter with Richard Wonderly MD analyzing Compassion & Choices' definition of "terminally ill adult patient." </span><a href="http://choiceisanillusion.files.wordpress.com/2012/07/schrempp_wonderly_opn_ltr1.pdf" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="color: #3d85c6;">http://choiceisanillusion.files.wordpress.com/2012/07/schrempp_wonderly_opn_ltr1.pdf</span></span></a></span></div>
</div>
Adminhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13314132820263802243noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3191810383854274821.post-48373432656862190502017-11-26T22:55:00.000-05:002019-08-06T05:44:35.500-04:00Assisting Persons Can Have an Agenda<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white;">By Margaret Dore, Esq., MBA</span></span><br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-AuFPJ5YB59I/WhDsnCNIMII/AAAAAAAABsc/mJIgrWdyhJw0dNZJdtett9vAITfmKGS8wCLcBGAs/s1600/Photo%2Bmichelle%2Bcarter%2BRS%2Bcropped.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="450" data-original-width="431" height="200" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-AuFPJ5YB59I/WhDsnCNIMII/AAAAAAAABsc/mJIgrWdyhJw0dNZJdtett9vAITfmKGS8wCLcBGAs/s200/Photo%2Bmichelle%2Bcarter%2BRS%2Bcropped.jpg" width="191" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">Michelle Carter assisted boyfriend's </span><br />
<span style="font-size: xx-small;">suicide,"wanted sympathy, attention"</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></span><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white;">Persons assisting a suicide or performing euthanasia can have an agenda. Consider Tammy Sawyer, trustee for Thomas Middleton in Oregon. Two days after his death by assisted suicide, she sold his home and deposited the proceeds into bank accounts for her own benefit.[1]</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white;">In other states, reported motives for assisting suicide include: the “thrill” of getting other people to kill themselves; a desire for sympathy and attention; and “want[ing] to see someone die.”[2]</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"></span><br style="background-color: white;" />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white;">Medical professionals too can have an agenda, for example, to hide malpractice. There is also the occasional doctor who just likes to kill people, for example, Michael Swango MD, now incarcerated.[3</span></span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "verdana" , "geneva" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">]</span><br />
<a name='more'></a><br />
<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span><span style="background-color: white;"><b><span style="font-family: inherit;">Footnotes</span></b></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;"><b><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></b></span><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white;">[1] KTVZ.com, “<a href="https://choiceisanillusion.files.wordpress.com/2016/10/sawyer-arraigned-a-63.pdf" target="_blank">Sawyer Arraigned on State Fraud Charges</a>,” 07/14/11. </span><br style="background-color: white;" /><span style="background-color: white;">[2] Associated Press for Minnesota, “</span><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/dec/28/minnesota-suicide-conviction-william-melchert-dinkel-mark-drybrough" style="background-color: white; color: #5b84ed;" target="_blank">Former nurse helped instruct man on how to commit suicide, court rules</a><span style="background-color: white;">,” </span><i style="background-color: white;">The Guardian</i><span style="background-color: white;">, 12/28/15 (“he told police he did it ‘for the thrill of the chase’”); “</span><a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/michelle-carter-texting-suicide-case-wanted-attention-prosecutor-says/" style="background-color: white; color: #5b84ed;" target="_blank">Woman in texting suicide wanted sympathy, attention, prosecutor says</a><span style="background-color: white;">,” CBS News, June 6, 2017; and Ben Winslow, “<a href="https://www.aol.com/article/news/2017/10/12/teen-accused-of-helping-friend-commit-suicide-could-face-trial-for-murder/23241619/" target="_blank">Teen accused of helping friend commit suicide could face trial for murder</a>,” (Deputy Utah County Attorney argued that the defendant “wanted to see someone die”). </span><br style="background-color: white;" /><span style="background-color: white;">[3] </span><span style="background-color: white; white-space: pre;"> </span><span style="background-color: white;">CBSNEWS.COM STAFF, “</span><a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/life-in-jail-for-poison-doctor" target="_blank">Life in Jail for Poison Doctor</a><span style="background-color: white;">, July 12, 2000; </span><span style="background-color: white;">Bill Vourvoulias, <u><a href="https://www.salon.com/1999/09/02/stewart/" target="_blank">Blind Eye: How the Medical Establishment Let a Doctor Get Away With Murder</a></u></span><span style="background-color: white;"> and </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Swango" style="color: #5b84ed; font-weight: inherit;">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Swango</a></span>Adminhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13314132820263802243noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3191810383854274821.post-81914066813921732722017-07-01T21:07:00.000-04:002017-07-14T21:33:57.799-04:00Session Ends With No Floor Vote On HB 160<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-3A4UtGkL3Ng/WWlqhiXDQtI/AAAAAAAAA0Y/ftW05oRT71wUK1Oq7NtpR5Pa5fa0ZmR-QCLcBGAs/s1600/Cropped%2BHouse%2BChamber.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="272" data-original-width="259" height="200" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-3A4UtGkL3Ng/WWlqhiXDQtI/AAAAAAAAA0Y/ftW05oRT71wUK1Oq7NtpR5Pa5fa0ZmR-QCLcBGAs/s200/Cropped%2BHouse%2BChamber.jpg" width="190" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">House Chambers</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Delaware's legislative session ended with no floor vote on HB 160, which had sought to legalize assisted suicide, physician-assisted suicide and euthanasia as those terms are traditionally defined.<br />
<br />
The bill had previously cleared a House committee with only one actual "favorable" vote.<br />
<br />
Thank you to everyone who worked so hard to get this great result.<br />
<br />Adminhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13314132820263802243noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3191810383854274821.post-79126010214818577662017-06-30T18:23:00.000-04:002019-08-05T16:55:25.352-04:00HB 160: Proposed Amendments Are a Sham<a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-5-vQfEMJTNI/WWlnCo2ScsI/AAAAAAAAA0M/rz2BZ66wK0MwLYGH4rIHZPmZQKglgcnTQCEwYBhgL/s1600/Graphic%2Bfirst%2Bstate-002.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="551" data-original-width="522" height="200" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-5-vQfEMJTNI/WWlnCo2ScsI/AAAAAAAAA0M/rz2BZ66wK0MwLYGH4rIHZPmZQKglgcnTQCEwYBhgL/s200/Graphic%2Bfirst%2Bstate-002.jpg" width="189" /></a>To view a pdf version, <a href="https://choiceisanillusion.files.wordpress.com/2017/07/hb-160-amendments-are-a-sham.pdf" target="_blank">click here</a>.<br />
<br />
HB 160 seeks to legalize physician-assisted suicide, assisted suicide and euthanasia as those terms are traditionally defined. Assisting persons can have their own agendas: An adult child wanting an inheritance; a financial predator seeking financial gain; or a doctor wanting to hide malpractice. The bill is, regardless, stacked against the individual and must be rejected.<br />
<a name='more'></a><br />
<b><br /></b>
<b>A.<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Even If a Patient Struggled, Who Would Know?</b><br />
<br />
The bill, as <a href="https://choiceisanillusion.files.wordpress.com/2017/05/hb160.pdf" target="_blank">originally drafted</a> and with <a href="https://choiceisanillusion.files.wordpress.com/2017/07/ha1-attachment-pp-a-1-to-a-21.pdf" target="_blank">the proposed amendments in HA-1</a>, has no supervision over administration of the lethal dose.[1]<br />
<br />
In addition, the drugs used are water and alcohol soluble, such that they can be injected into a sleeping or restrained person.[2] Alex Schadenberg, Executive Director for the Euthanasia Prevention Coalition, puts it this way:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
With assisted suicide laws in Washington and Oregon [and with the proposed bill and amendments], perpetrators can . . . take a “legal” route, by getting an elder to sign a lethal dose request. <i>Once the prescription is filled, there is no supervision over administration. Even if a patient struggled, “who would know?</i>” (Emphasis added).[3]</blockquote>
<b>B.<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>The Death Certificate Will List a Terminal Illness as the Cause of Death, Which Will Prevent Prosecution for Murder</b><br />
<br />
The bill, as drafted and as amended, states:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
The death certificate <i>must</i> list the underlying terminal illness as the cause of death. (Emphasis added).[4]</blockquote>
The significance of requiring a terminal illness to be listed as the cause of death is that it creates a legal inability to prosecute. The official legal cause of death is a terminal illness (not murder) as a matter of law.<br />
<br />
More to the point, heirs, other financial predators and malpracticing doctors will all be let off the hook: The bill will create the perfect crime.<br />
<b><br /></b>
<b>C.<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>The Proposed Felony for Undue Influence Is Unenforceable</b><br />
<br />
The proposed amendments contain a felony for “undue influence,” which is not defined. <a href="https://choiceisanillusion.files.wordpress.com/2017/07/ha1-attachment-pp-a-1-to-a-21.pdf" target="_blank">House Amendment No. 1</a>, lines 40 to 42,states:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
A person who coerces or exerts undue influence on a patient to make a request for medication or to destroy a rescission of a request for medication under this chapter with the intent or effect of causing the patient’s death is guilty of a class A felony.[5]</blockquote>
The bill also allows a patient’s heir to be one of two witnesses on the lethal dose request form.[6] This is a marker of undue influence in the context of a will.[7]<br />
<br />
The bill can be read as allowing one of the patient’s two physicians to be a witness on the lethal dose request form.[8]<br />
<br />
Participation of a person in “apparent authority” such as a health care professional is another marker of undue influence, as is the fact that the person potentially being influenced is ill. This is in the elder abuse context.[9]<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span><br />
<br />
How do you prove that undue influence occurred when the bill does not define it and the bill also allows conduct used to prove it in other contexts? You can’t. The proposed felony for undue influence is illusory and unenforceable.<br />
<br />
Respectfully Submitted,<br />
<br />
Margaret Dore, Esq., MBA<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span><br />
Law Offices of Margaret K. Dore, P.S.<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span><br />
Choice is an Illusion, a nonprofit corporation<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span><br />
<a href="http://www.choiceillusiondelaware.org/">www.choiceillusiondelaware.org</a><br />
1001 4th Avenue, Suite 4400<br />
Seattle, WA USA 98154<br />
206 389 1754 main reception<br />
206 389 1562 direct line<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span><br />
206 697 1217 cell<br />
<br />
<b>Footnotes</b>:<br />
<br />
[1] See HB 160 in its entirety, original version plus amendments. The amendments are attached hereto as pages A-1 and A-2.<br />
[2] In Oregon, the drugs used include Secobarbital, Pentobarbital (Nembutal) and Phenobarbital. Secobarbital and Pentobarbital are soluble in water and alcohol. See http://<a href="http://www.drugs.com/pr/seconal-sodium.html">www.drugs.com/pr/seconal-sodium.html</a> and http://<a href="http://www.drugs.com/pro/nembutal.html">www.drugs.com/pro/nembutal.html</a>. Phenobarbital is soluble in alcohol. See https://<a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2977013">www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2977013</a>.<br />
[3] Alex Schadenberg, Letter to the Editor, “Elder abuse a growing problem,” <i>The Advocate</i>, Official Publication of the Idaho State Bar, October 2010, page 14, available at http://<a href="http://www.margaretdore.com/info/October_Letters.pdf">www.margaretdore.com/info/October_Letters.pdf</a>.<br />
[4] See: HB 160 as <a href="https://choiceisanillusion.files.wordpress.com/2017/05/hb160.pdf" target="_blank">originally drafted</a>, § 2504B(b), lines 95-96; and <a href="https://choiceisanillusion.files.wordpress.com/2017/07/ha1-attachment-pp-a-1-to-a-21.pdf" target="_blank">the proposed amendments in HA-1</a>, line 27.<br />
[5] <a href="https://choiceisanillusion.files.wordpress.com/2017/07/ha1-attachment-pp-a-1-to-a-21.pdf" target="_blank">Proposed amendments</a>, lines 40-42.<br />
[6] See § 2504B(b), as <a href="https://choiceisanillusion.files.wordpress.com/2017/05/hb160.pdf" target="_blank">drafted</a> and as <a href="https://choiceisanillusion.files.wordpress.com/2017/07/ha1-attachment-pp-a-1-to-a-21.pdf" target="_blank">amended</a>.<br />
[7] Compare <a href="https://choiceisanillusion.files.wordpress.com/2017/07/interested-witness-1-of-2-witnesses.pdf" target="_blank">Washington State’s probate statute</a> (providing that a gift to one of two witnesses on a will creates a presumption of “duress, menace, fraud, or undue influence”). <br />
[8] The amendment states "The patient’s attending physician <i>and</i> consulting physician . . . may not serve as a witness . . . . "(Emphasis added). This language can be read as allowing one of the two physicians to serve as a witness. See HA 1, lines 7-10.<br />
[9] See for example, this <a href="https://choiceisanillusion.files.wordpress.com/2017/07/undue-influence-illness-apparent-authority.pdf" target="_blank">undue influence statute</a> from California (undue influence factors include "the vulnerability of the victim," including but not limited to "illness, disability, injury," and the "influencer's apparent authority" for example, being a "health care professional").Adminhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13314132820263802243noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3191810383854274821.post-61793619288813851862017-06-20T10:01:00.000-04:002017-07-14T20:57:10.845-04:00Vote "No" on HB 160: Bullet Point Highlights<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-NGyuSsTiJyA/WWloS6eQ4AI/AAAAAAAAA0Q/POlTmxKoUDUc3LwLvxH0Pa63M-XvjssYQCLcBGAs/s1600/photo%2BDE%2Bstate%2Bmap.GIF" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="452" data-original-width="272" height="200" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-NGyuSsTiJyA/WWloS6eQ4AI/AAAAAAAAA0Q/POlTmxKoUDUc3LwLvxH0Pa63M-XvjssYQCLcBGAs/s200/photo%2BDE%2Bstate%2Bmap.GIF" width="120" /></a>For a hard copy to hand out, <a href="https://choiceisanillusion.files.wordpress.com/2017/06/handout-06-22-17.pdf" target="_blank">click here</a><br />
For supporting documentation, <a href="http://www.choiceillusiondelaware.org/p/supporting-documentation-for-hb-106.html" target="_blank">click here</a><br />
<br />
• HB 160 legalizes assisted suicide and euthanasia as those terms are traditionally defined.<br />
<br />
• The bill applies to people with years or decades to live.<br />
<br />
• Assisting persons can have their own agendas: an adult child wanting an inheritance; a financial predator seeking financial gain; or a doctor wanting to hide malpractice.<br />
<a name='more'></a><br />
• Assisting persons are allowed to communicate for the patient during the lethal dose request process.<br />
<br />
• Administration of the lethal dose is allowed to occur in private without a doctor or witness present. If the patient objected or even struggled, who would know?<br />
<br />
• The bill says that the death certificate “must” list a terminal illness as the cause of death. This will prevent prosecution for murder, no matter what the facts.<br />
<br />
• The bill, if enacted, will create the perfect crime.<br />
<br />
• The bill merely requires that actions be taken in “accordance” with its provisions. Actual compliance is not required.<br />
<br />
• The bill is based on a similar law in Oregon. In Oregon, even law enforcement has no access to data collected by the state regarding individual deaths. There is a near complete lack of transparency.<br />
<br />
For additional information, click here: <a href="http://www.choiceillusiondelaware.org/">www.choiceillusiondelaware.org</a><br />
<br />
Margaret Dore, Esq., MBA<br />
Law Offices of Margaret K.Dore, PS<br />
Choice is an Illusion, a nonprofit corporation<br />
<a href="http://www.margaretdore.com/">www.margaretdore.com</a><br />
<a href="http://www.choiceillusion.org/">www.choiceillusion.org</a><br />
1001 4th Avenue, Suite 4400<br />
Seattle, WA 98154<br />
206 697 1217Adminhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13314132820263802243noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3191810383854274821.post-38462349152526124102017-06-11T01:42:00.000-04:002017-06-12T12:46:30.568-04:00HB 160: Bad Things Happen in the Dark<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-pZl4fycwRYY/WTzQOP3NXqI/AAAAAAAAAkQ/-x37RrHilX4C6RpAbkAgzEVccHXZtwAOACLcB/s1600/photo%2Bdelaware-dover-legislative-building-crop%2B267%2Bx%2B267.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="267" data-original-width="267" height="200" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-pZl4fycwRYY/WTzQOP3NXqI/AAAAAAAAAkQ/-x37RrHilX4C6RpAbkAgzEVccHXZtwAOACLcB/s200/photo%2Bdelaware-dover-legislative-building-crop%2B267%2Bx%2B267.jpeg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">State House</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
To view a pdf version, click these links for the <a href="https://choiceisanillusion.files.wordpress.com/2017/06/hb-160-transparency-memo-index.pdf" target="_blank">index</a>, <a href="https://choiceisanillusion.files.wordpress.com/2017/06/hb-160-transparency-memo.pdf" target="_blank">memo</a> and <a href="https://choiceisanillusion.files.wordpress.com/2017/06/hb-160-transparency-appendix.pdf" target="_blank">appendix</a>.<br />
<br />
<b>I. INTRODUCTION </b><br />
<br />
HB 160 legalizes assisted suicide and euthanasia as those terms are traditionally defined. The bill is based on a similar law in Oregon, which has a near complete lack of transparency.<br />
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If Delaware enacts HB 160 and follows Oregon practice, there will be a similar lack of transparency. The safety and welfare of individuals will be unverifiable from state sources.<br />
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<b>II. DISCUSSION</b></div>
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<b>A. If Delaware Follows Oregon’s Interpretation of “Not a Public Record,” the Bill Will Create a Government Entity Insulated from Review, Even by Law Enforcement </b><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><br />
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The bill charges an unnamed “Department” with issuing an annual statistical report based on data collected pursuant to the bill.[1] The bill also states:<br />
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Except as otherwise required by law, <i>the information collected is not a public record and may not be made available for inspection by the public</i>. (Emphasis added).[2]</blockquote>
Oregon’s law has a nearly identical provision, as follows:<br />
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Except as otherwise required by law, <i>the information collected shall not be a public record and may not be made available for inspection by the public</i>. (Emphasis added).[3]</blockquote>
In Oregon, this nearly identical provision is interpreted to bar release of information about individual cases. Oregon’s website states:<br />
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[T]he Act specifically states that information collected is not a public record and is not available for inspection by the public (ORS 127.865 (2)). <i>The protection of confidentiality conferred</i> by the Death with Dignity Act <i>precludes the Oregon Health Authority</i> [which oversees Oregon’s Department of Health] <i>from releasing information that identifies patients or participants, to the public, media, researchers, students, advocates, or other interested parties</i> .... (Emphasis added).[4]</blockquote>
Consider also this e-mail from Alicia Parkman, Mortality Research Analyst for the Oregon Health Authority, clarifying that even law enforcement is barred from obtaining individual identities. She states:<br />
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<i>We have been contacted by law enforcement . . . in the past, but have not provided identifying information of any type.</i> (Emphasis added).[5] </blockquote>
If Delaware enacts HB 160 and follows Oregon’s interpretation of “not a public record,” there will be a similar lack of transparency in which even law enforcement will have no access to information about individual cases. The bill will create a government entity above the law.<br />
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<b>B. If Delaware Follows Oregon’s Data Collection Protocol, Patient Identities Will Not Be Recorded in Any Manner, Source Documentation Will Be Destroyed</b><br />
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Oregon’s website describes the data collection protocol for its annual reports, as follows:<br />
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The identity of participating physicians is coded, but <i>the identity of individual patients is not recorded in any manner</i>. Approximately one year from the publication of the Annual Report, <i>all source documentation is destroyed</i>. (Emphasis added).[6]<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span></blockquote>
Alicia Parkman, Mortality Research Analyst for the Oregon Health Authority, makes a similar representation as follows:<br />
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<i>To ensure confidentiality, our office does not maintain source information on participants</i>. (Emphasis added).[7]</blockquote>
The significance is that Oregon’s annual reports cannot be verified to source documentation. If Delaware follows Oregon, Delaware’s reports will also be unverifiable.<br />
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<b>C. If Delaware Follows the Oregon Experience, a Non-Governmental Entity Will Displace the State to Become the Defacto “Agency” Overseeing HB 160</b><br />
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Passage of Oregon’s law was spearheaded by the suicide promotion group, Compassion & Choices. In Oregon, this organization has used Oregon’s law to disable and displace the Department of Health as the entity overseeing that law. Consider this example.<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><br />
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In 2010, I had client who wanted to know if his father had died under Oregon’s law. I referred him to an Oregon attorney, who asked the police to investigate. The attorney’s declaration states:<br />
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The officer’s report describes how he determined that the death was under Oregon’s assisted suicide law <i>due to records other than from the State of Oregon</i>. The officer’s report also describes that <i>he was unable to get this information from the Oregon Health Authority, which was not willing to confirm or deny whether the deceased had used the act</i> . . . . (Emphasis added).[9]</blockquote>
I also read the officer’s report. Per the report, Compassion & Choices provided the records necessary for the officer to determine that the decedent had, in fact, died under Oregon’s law. In Oregon, Compassion & Choices, a non-governmental entity, has displaced the Department of Health as the “agency” overseeing Oregon’s law.<br />
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<b>III. CONCLUSION</b><br />
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The proposed Oregon-style “oversight” is a sham and will create the opportunity for a non-governmental entity to displace government oversight. The safely and welfare of individuals will be unverifiable from state sources. I urge you to vote “No” on HB 160.<br />
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Respectfully submitted this 11th day of June 2017<br />
<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><br />
Margaret Dore, Esq., MBA<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><br />
Law Offices of Margaret K. Dore, P.S.<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><br />
Choice is an Illusion, a nonprofit corporation<br />
<a href="http://www.margaretdore.com/">www.margaretdore.com</a><br />
<a href="http://www.choiceillusion.org/">www.choiceillusion.org</a><br />
1001 4th Avenue, Suite 4400<br />
Seattle, WA 98154<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><br />
206 697 1217<br />
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<b>Footnotes</b><br />
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[1] HB 160, § 2514B (d), states: “The Department shall generate and make available to the public an annual statistical report of information collected under of this section.” (Attached in the <a href="https://choiceisanillusion.files.wordpress.com/2017/06/hb-160-transparency-appendix.pdf" target="_blank">appendix</a> at A-1, lines 159-160).<br />
[2] Id. at lines 157 to 158.<br />
[3] ORS 127.865 s.3.11(2), attached in the <a href="https://choiceisanillusion.files.wordpress.com/2017/06/hb-160-transparency-appendix.pdf" target="_blank">appendix</a> at A-2.<br />
[4] Release of Information Regarding the Death with Dignity Act, in the <a href="https://choiceisanillusion.files.wordpress.com/2017/06/hb-160-transparency-appendix.pdf" target="_blank">appendix</a> at A-3.<br />
[5] E-mail from Alicia Parkman to me, 01/04/12, in the <a href="https://choiceisanillusion.files.wordpress.com/2017/06/hb-160-transparency-appendix.pdf" target="_blank">appendix</a> at A-4.<br />
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[6] Oregon Health Authority, Frequently Asked Questions, in the <a href="https://choiceisanillusion.files.wordpress.com/2017/06/hb-160-transparency-appendix.pdf" target="_blank">appendix</a> at A-5.</div>
[7] E-mail from Parkman to Dore, 01/04/12, supra, in the <a href="https://choiceisanillusion.files.wordpress.com/2017/06/hb-160-transparency-appendix.pdf" target="_blank">appendix</a> at A-4.<br />
[8] Compassion & Choices is a successor organization to the Hemlock Society, founded by suicide promoter, Derek Humphry. See newsletter in the <a href="https://choiceisanillusion.files.wordpress.com/2017/06/hb-160-transparency-appendix.pdf" target="_blank">appendix</a> at A-6.<br />
[9] Isaac Jackson, Declaration of Testimony, 09/18/12, in the <a href="https://choiceisanillusion.files.wordpress.com/2017/06/hb-160-transparency-appendix.pdf" target="_blank">appendix</a> at A-8, ¶ 8. The entire declaration can be viewed at A-7 through A-12. Adminhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13314132820263802243noreply@blogger.comDelaware, USA38.9108325 -75.52766989999997837.334621 -78.109456899999984 40.487044 -72.945882899999972