What Happened to HB 140?

Original publication 07/03/24, by Alex Schadenberg.

Everyone needs to contact Governor John Carney [pictured here] and urge him to veto assisted suicide Bill HB 140. Email him at john.carney@delaware.gov

A news story by Sarah Mueller for whyy news stated:

Democratic Rep. Paul Baumbach, the prime sponsor, said the bill has not yet been sent to the governor. A spokesperson for the governor said lawyers were reviewing the legislation. Requests to clarify their answers received no response.

Delaware: Legislation Legalizing Assisted Suicide & Euthanasia Awaits Governor’s Action

By Sarah Mueller (pictured right).  

Updated July 5, 2024 12:14 pm  

Delaware Governor John Carney could soon decide whether to sign legislation legalizing medical-assisted dying.

Sometimes known as “physician-” or “medically assisted suicide,” the legislation would allow terminally ill people with less than six months to live to request and ingest medication to end their lives.

The House passed the bill 21-14, with four Democrats absent in April. The vote in the Senate originally failed 9-9, but passed days later 11-10.

This is the first time Carney, who is in his final year in office, will have to decide on this issue. He can sign the bill, veto it or allow it to take effect without signing it. Carney has 10 days to act on a bill after it is sent to him.

Press Release: Bill Seeking to Legalize Assisted Suicide and Euthanasia Remains Undecided by Governor Carney (pictured below)

July 2, 2024 -- According to the American Medical Association, assisted suicide occurs when a doctor facilitates a person's death by providing the means or information to enable another person to perform a life-ending act. Euthanasia is the administration of a lethal agent to kill another person.

Persons assisting a suicide or euthanasia can have an agenda. Reported motives have included: financial gain; the “thrill” of getting other people to kill themselves; and wanting to see another person die.

The proposed Deleware Act (HB 140) has an application process to obtain a lethal dose of medication. Once the lethal dose is issued by the pharmacy, there is no required oversight. No witness, not even a doctor or other medical person is required to be present at the patient's death.

Governor's Signature Would Create a Perfect Crime

By Margaret Dore, Esq., MBA 

“Aid in Dying” has been a euphemism for physician-assisted suicide and euthanasia since at least 1992.

Per the American Medical Association, "physician-assisted suicide" occurs when a doctor facilitates a person's death by providing the means or information to enable a person to perform the life-ending act. "Euthanasia" is the administration of a lethal agent to a person with or without consent.

Persons assisting a suicide or euthanasia can have an agenda. Reported motives have included: financial gain; the “thrill” of getting other people to kill themselves; and wanting to see another person die.

Tell Governor Carney to Veto Assisted Suicide

By Alex Schadenberg 

Contact Delaware Governor John Carney (pictured here). Tell him to veto assisted suicide/euthanasia Bill HB 140 at john.carney@delaware.gov

People at vulnerable times of their life need proper care not assistance in being killed. 

In a roller coaster ride of votes, the Delaware Senate passed assisted suicide Bill HB 140 on June 25 by an 11 to 10 vote in a second vote on the bill.

Donna Latteri Holds Jeanette Hall's Photo at Recent Hearing

Hall's declaration states:

1.  I live in Oregon where assisted suicide is legal. Our law was enacted in 1997 via a ballot measure that I voted for.

2.  In 2000, I was diagnosed with cancer and told that I had 6 months to a year to live. I knew that our law had passed, but I didn't know exactly how to go about doing it. I tried to ask my doctor, Kenneth Stevens MD, but he didn't really answer me. In hindsight, he was stalling me.

3.  I did not want to suffer. I wanted to do our law and I wanted Dr. Stevens to help me. Instead, he encouraged me to not give up and ultimately I decided to fight the cancer. I had both chemotherapy and radiation. I am happy to be alive!  

Bill 140 Extended

The amendment extends the bill's implementation deadline to July 1, 2025. The previous deadline was July 1, 2024.

Passage of HB 140 Would Create a Perfect Crime

By Margaret Dore, Esq., MBA

“Aid in Dying” has been a euphemism for physician-assisted suicide and euthanasia since at least 1992.

Per the American Medical Association, "physician-assisted suicide" occurs when a doctor facilitates a patient’s death by providing the means or information to enable a patient to perform the life-ending act. "Euthanasia" is the administration of a lethal agent to a patient.

Delaware Euthanasia Bill: Purported "Safeguards" Unenforceable

Margaret Dore, Esq.

By Margaret Dore, Esq., MBA

Representative Paul Baumbach's proposed, but as yet unfiled, "End of Life Option Act," seeks to legalize medical "aid in dying," which is a traditional euphemism for active euthanasia.[1]

The Act seeks to legalize assisted suicide and euthanasia as those terms are traditionally defined. The bill also promotes itself as having “robust" safeguards.[1] Indeed, the bill goes so far as to say that its "rigorous safeguards would be the strongest of any state in the nation and will thoroughly protect patients and their loved ones from any potential abuse."[2]

The purported safeguards are enumerated and include that the attending provider “shall” refer the patient to a consulting provider, and that the attending provider “shall” offer the patient an opportunity to rescind the lethal dose request.[3]

The bill, however, also says that the attending provider is merely to ensure that all “appropriate” steps are carried out, and that the provider is held to an “accordance” standard. The bill, § 4, states:

The attending provider shall: . . .

(11) Ensure that all appropriate steps are carried out in accordance with this chapter . . . .  (Emphasis added).[4]

The bill does not define "appropriate" or “accordance.”[5] Dictionary definitions of appropriate include "suitable or fitting."[6] Dictionary definitions of accordance include “in the spirit of,” meaning “in thought or intention.”[7] 

With these definitions, the attending provider’s mere view of what is "suitable or fitting" is enough for safeguard compliance. The provider's mere "thought or intention" is similarly sufficient. The touted safeguards are thus neutralized to whatever an attending provider happens to feel is appropriate and/or had a thought or intention to do. They are unenforceable.

Legal Memorandum: Euthanasia Act Must Be Rejected

By Margaret Dore, Esq.

 I. INTRODUCTION

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.

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.  

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.

Euthanasia Bill Fails to Move

Bess McAneny
testifying against bill

HB 140 is dead for now. The bill had sought to legalize medical "aid in dying," which is a euphemism for active euthanasia.

After a hearing before the House Health & Human Development Committee, the main sponsor, Paul Baumbach, requested that the committee forgo holding a vote.

No vote was taken.

Margaret Dore

Dore Letter Opposing HB 160 (Prior bill)

I am an elder law and guardianship attorney in Washington State where assisted suicide is legal.  Like HB 160, our law is modeled on a similar law in Oregon. I urge you to not make our mistake. 

I have three points:

Death Certificate Falsification Requires Bill's Defeat

Kirk Allison, PhD, MS

Dear Legislators:

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).

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.

Compassion & Choices Is a Successor Organization to the Hemlock Society

Theresa Schrempp

Dear Editor:

I am a lawyer in Washington State where assisted-suicide is legal. 

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.

Assisting Persons Can Have an Agenda

By Margaret Dore, Esq., MBA

Michelle Carter assisted boyfriend's 
suicide,"wanted sympathy, attention"

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]

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]

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]