Monday, October 26, 2015

Dore Letter to Joint Committee on Public Health

I am a lawyer in Washington State where assisted suicide is legal.  I am also president of Choice is an Illusion, a nonprofit corporation opposed to assisted suicide and euthanasia. 

H.1991 is a promoted as assuring patient control, which it doesn't do.  Key problems include the following:

  • Someone else is allowed to speak for the patient during the lethal dose request process. 
  • The term, "self-administer," allows someone else to administer the lethal dose to the patient 
  • There is no oversight at the death: Even if the patient struggled against administration, who would know?
  • The death certificate is required to be falsified to reflect a natural death, which prevents perpetrators from being prosecuted even in a straight up murder for the money.
In short, the bill allows the perfect crime.

Here is a link to my memo explaining the bill's problems in more detail.  Even if you are for the concept of assisted suicide, H.1991 is the wrong bill.  http://www.massagainstassistedsuicide.org/2015/10/dore-memo-opposing-h1991.html 

Thank you for your attention to this matter.

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

Dore Memo Opposing H.1991

H.1991 is similar to Ballot Question 2, which was defeated by a vote of the people in 2012.  This memo and its attachments discusses why H.1991 is a recipe for elder abuse.  Passage will also cause family trauma, and encourage people with years to live to throw away their lives.  There are other problems.  Even if you are for the concept of assisted suicide, H.1991 is the wrong bill.

Margaret Dore

Wednesday, October 21, 2015

Young Man Actively Suicidal After Watching Brittany Maynard Video

Dear Legislators:


I am a doctor whose young adult patient became actively suicidal after watching a  Brittany Maynard video.

I urge you to vote against legalizing assisted suicide so as to not encourage other young adults to seek this path.  

In the first week of December 2014, a mother brought in her twenty year old son for an emergency appointment.  She had told me that he had been acting oddly and talking about death.

During the appointment, I asked the young man if he had a plan.  He said “yes” that he had watched Ms. Maynard’s video, that he was very impressed and identified with her and that he thought it was a good idea for him to die like her.  He also told me that after watching the video he had been surfing the internet looking for ways to obtain suicide drugs.

He was actively suicidal and agreed to go to the hospital, where he stayed for five weeks until it was determined that he was sufficiently safe from self-harm to go home.

Legal assisted suicide sends the wrong message to young people.  I urge you to vote "no" on H.1991.

Thank you.

Will Johnston MD

Gisele M. Comeau, M.D
Williard P. Johnston, M.D.
Family Physicians
Vancouver, BC Canada

Saturday, November 3, 2012

Papers Say "NO" to Question 2

1.  The Boston Globe:  End-of-life discussions, care should come before Question 2 
2.  The Cape Cod Times - Vote No on Question 2
3. 
The Salem News - Our View: No on Question 2
4. 
The Worchester Telegram and Gazette - Vote "No" on Question 2
5. 
The Boston Herald - No on Question 2
6. 
The New Bedford Standard Times - Our View: Death with Dignity law fatally flawed
7. 
The Bay State Banner - Vote No on Question 2
8. 
The Lowell Sun - Vote No on Question 2
9The Springfield Republic - recommend voting “no” on Question 2, physician-assisted suicide
10.  The Waltham News Tribune - Endorsement: 'Death with dignity' is not good enough

Question 2 will put the vulnerable at risk

http://www.metrowestdailynews.com/opinions/letters_to_the_editor/x1272750569/Coiro-Question-2-will-put-vulnerable-at-risk#ixzz2BCKQGRss

Dear Editor:

The desire "not to be a burden," has been part of all five suicides I have experienced as a priest.  Pre-death interviews in Oregon and Washington show that those who make use of Physician Assisted Suicide there often state the desire "not to be a burden" as their primary motivation.  Not suffering, but rather the challenge of being dependent on the aid of others.

The greatest misconception about legalizing Assisted Suicide is that it is strictly about giving individuals the right to make choices for themselves - that it will not impact others.  The reality is that once suicide is introduced as a legal option in some circumstances, it becomes a more acceptable and likely option for society as a whole.  Consider Oregon.  Oregon passed doctor-assisted suicide in 1994.  Now, suicide is the leading cause of "injury death" there, and the second leading cause of death among 15 to 34 year olds.  The suicide rate in Oregon, which had been in decline before 1994, is now 35 percent higher than the national average.

As one who ministers to the dying and the depressed, I am deeply concerned that if passed, Question 2 will put many more vulnerable persons at risk.  Do you know a teen, or family member, or coworker who suffers from depression?  A yes vote for Question Two would tell those individuals that yes, sometimes the deliberate taking of one's own life is an appropriate choice.  On their behalf, please join in defeating Question 2.

 REV. MARK J. COIRO


Pastor, St. Mary's, Holliston
Read more: http://www.metrowestdailynews.com/opinions/letters_to_the_editor/x1272750569/Coiro-Question-2-will-put-vulnerable-at-risk#ixzz2BCKQGRss

Doctor-assisted suicide won't bring "peace and comfort"

http://www.wickedlocal.com/brookline/news/x255964445/Letter-Doctor-assisted-suicide-won-t-bring-peace-and-comfort#ixzz2BCHxVAkS

"The incantatory phrase, 'in a humane and dignified manner,' is incessantly repeated throughout the pages of the proposal of Question 2. It scares me."

Dear Editor:

Suicide's tragedy is in its failure, on both the personal level of caring and the societal level of caring for people who are not going to get well. The training of doctors and nurses, geared toward the recovery of health, can engender frustration in the face of death, a defeat in the battle for a cure. Dying is fearsome, not death itself. In the abstract, one can be tempted toward ending one's life, especially where there is physical and/or mental suffering. On the practical level, suicide is never the answer, is never a comfort, always leaving distressing questions afterward. Killing attacks life and is an affront to the art and science of medicine.

A mother's vote against assisted suicide

http://www.patriotledger.com/letters/x346791105/DOTTY-McLAUGHLIN-Randolph-A-mothers-vote-against-assisted-suicide#ixzz2BCFhdnk2

I was disappointed in your editorial, “Vote yes on Question 2; allow death with dignity” (Nov. 2).

Question 2 makes it legal to obtain a lethal prescription if a person has a terminal illness that carries a prognosis of six or fewer months to live.   As a mother whose son outlived his six-month prognosis by six years, I oppose Question 2 for that reason alone.  The years we had with my son are a precious gift; I would not want to see another family deprived of days, months, or years with a loved one because of this law.  

Question 2 also has other deep and serious flaws.  To begin, a patient’s mental health does not have to be evaluated before making such a significant life-ending decision.  Today, if a patient confides in their doctor that they are having suicidal thoughts or intend to do harm to themselves, it is the doctor’s professional obligation to do everything they can to prevent such actions.  Taking a lethal dose of 100 Seconal pills should not be an exception to this rule.

Once the patient picks up this lethal prescription from his or her local pharmacy, there is absolutely no tracking method to ensure that the medication does not end up in the wrong hands.  In your editorial, you correctly state that such a thing is not required for any other sorts of medications. However, none of these medications have an expressed intent to kill anyone. The importance of a tracking method for this medication is distinctive and necessary. Moreover, as a resident of the South Shore, I am shocked at the Ledger’s loose attitude toward this serious issue under the banner of prescription monitoring, given the paper’s strong coverage of the region’s oxycontin epidemic in the past.

Your newspaper cited Oregon – where assisted suicide is legal – as a model case, since only about 600 people had actually taken their lives.  Since when did 596 lives become insignificant? How many of them could have outlived their prognosis, or had more time to spend with friends, their families and children? How many of them could have been suffering from a treatable form of depression or misdiagnosed in the first place? My son enjoyed five years and six extra months more than he was predicted to live. Time which may have been lost if physician assisted suicide had been legal. 

We should be focusing more on options such as hospice and palliative care for patients with terminal illnesses, rather than the finality of death, because let’s face it – how many doctors can say with absolute certitude that a patient has only six months left to live? The answer: zero. 

I stand with the Massachusetts Medical Society and its 23,000 physicians across the state in opposing Question 2, and I urge all voters to do the same on Nov. 6.

DOTTY MCLAUGHLIN
Randolph


Read more: DOTTY McLAUGHLIN, Randolph: A mother's vote against assisted suicide - West Bridgewater, MA - Wicked Local West Bridgewater http://www.patriotledger.com/letters/x346791105/DOTTY-McLAUGHLIN-Randolph-A-mothers-vote-against-assisted-suicide#ixzz2BCFhdnk2

Thursday, November 1, 2012

Mayor, Full Council Oppose Assisted Suicide Question


The following was submitted by City Councilor Diane LeBlanc.
Mayor Jeannette McCarthy and the City’s 15 Councilors will be voting No on Question 2 and they are urging Waltham residents and residents across the state to do the same.  While it is not common for elected officials to speak out on ballot questions, they are making an exception because of the life and death issue at stake, and what they unanimously agree, are gross flaws in the proposed law.