Delaware Legislature Kills Bill to Legalize Assisted Suicide
Nearly every state that has legalized assisted suicide has expanded their laws. On Wednesday, June 12, the Delaware State Senate debated assisted suicide Bill HB 140. The last online presenter was Kim Callinan, the President of the assisted suicide group, Compassion & Choices. In her presentation Callinan lied three times about key issues. The first […]
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Nearly every state that has legalized assisted suicide has expanded their laws.
On Wednesday, June 12, the Delaware State Senate debated assisted suicide Bill HB 140. The last online presenter was Kim Callinan, the President of the assisted suicide group, Compassion & Choices. In her presentation Callinan lied three times about key issues.
The first lie was that there have been no abuses of the law.
An article by Jennifer Brown that was published in the Colorado Sun on March 14 reported that Dr. Jennifer Gaudiani, an internal medicine doctor who specializes in eating disorders published a paper on how she prescribed assisted suicide for three people with anorexia nervosa in Colorado. Gaudiani approves assisted suicide for Anorexia Nervosa by falsely defining the condition as terminal.
Kevin Dias, the Chief Legal Advocacy Officer for Compassion & Choices responded to the Colorado Sun article by stating that:
Medical aid-in-dying laws apply only to mentally capable, terminally ill patients with six months or less to live who are able to self-ingest the medication. Any deviation from these requirements violates the law and places physicians, family members and others in regulatory, civil and criminal jeopardy. This law does not and was never intended to apply to a person whose only diagnosis is anorexia nervosa.
Kevin Dias admitted that the law was violated. To make matters worse, the Oregon 2021 assisted suicide report listed Anorexia Nervosa as a reason for at least one assisted suicide death.
Therefore the law had been violated at least 4 times on this issue alone.
The second lie is her statement there is no “slippery slope.”
Oregon: In 2019 Oregon expanded their assisted suicide law by giving doctors the ability to waive the 15 day waiting period when a person was deemed near to death. In 2023 Oregon removed the residency requirement extending assisted suicide nationally to anyone.
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California: In 2021 California expanded their assisted suicide law by reducing the waiting period from 15 days to 48 hours, it forced doctors who oppose assisted suicide to be complicit in the process (later struck down by the court).
New Mexico: In 2021 New Mexico passed assisted suicide Bill HB 47 further codifying the assisted suicide lobby’s expansion plans. HB 47 did not require a 15 day waiting period but it rather required a 48 hour waiting period that can be waived if the health care provider believes that the person may be near to death, technically allowing a same day death.
New Mexico also passed an expanded definition of who could prescribe and participate in assisted suicide. HB 47 allowed non-physicians defined as “health care providers” to approve and prescribe lethal drugs. “Health care providers” includes physicians, licensed physician assistants, osteopathic physicians, or nurses registered in advanced practice. The assisted suicide lobby is expanding who can prescribe and participate since very few physicians are willing to assist a suicide.Vermont: In 2022 Vermont expanded their assisted suicide law by removing the 48 hour waiting period, (allowing a same day death), removing the requirement that an examination be done in person, (allowing approvals by telehealth), and it extended legal immunity to anyone who participates in the act.In 2023Vermont expanded their assisted suicide law by removing the residency requirement expanding assisted suicide nationally by allowing anyone to die by assisted suicide in Vermont.
Washington State: In 2023 Washington State expanded their assisted suicide law by allowing advanced practice registered nurses to approve and prescribe lethal poison, by reducing the waiting period to 7 days and to force healthcare institutions and hospices to post their assisted suicide policies.
Hawaii: In 2023 Hawaii expanded their assisted suicide law by reducing the waiting period from 20 days to 5 days, by allowing the waiting period to be waived if the person is near to death and by allowing advanced practice registered nurses to approve and prescribe lethal poison.
Colorado: On June 5, Colorado Governor Gary Polis signed Senate Bill 24-068 to expand their State assisted suicide law.
Senate Bill 24-068 expanded the Colorado assisted suicide law by: allowing advanced practice registered nurses to approve and prescribe lethal poison, reducing the waiting period from 15 days to 7 days, allowing the doctor or advanced practise registered nurse to waive the waiting period if the person is near to death, Adding language specifying that if any end-of-life options conflict with requirements to receive federal money, the conflicting part is inoperative and the remainder of the law will continue to operate.
New Jersey. There is currently a lawsuit by the assisted suicide lobby challenging the New Jersey state residency requirement for assisted suicide.
Even if Callinan considers these expansions of assisted suicide to be only legal “updates” (which doesn’t explain the removal of the residency requirements in Oregon and Vermont), this year’s attempted expansion of assisted suicide in California (SB 1196) to include euthanasia for people who are not terminally ill is clearly proof of a slippery slope.
The only reason Compassion and Choices opposed the California SB 1196 is that passing the bill would have made it more difficult to pass assisted suicide legislation in other states, such as Delaware.
The goal of the assisted suicide lobby is to legalize assisted suicide in more states and to expand the scope of the assisted suicide laws in the states that have legalized assisted suicide.
The third Callinan lie was stating that all of the laws are similar to the Oregon law.
I have no love for the Oregon law, but clearly most state assisted suicide laws have similarities and differences to the Oregon law.
For instance, Oregon only allows physicians to participate in assisted suicide. Several states have redefined who can participate as being a “Health care provider” which includes doctors of osteopathy, advanced registered nurses, and physician assistants.
Another significant difference is the waiting periods. Oregon originally required 15 days, but later allowed the waiting period to be waived if a person is nearing death. Some states permit a 48 hour waiting period that can also be waived and some assisted suicide bills have had no waiting period.
As stated earlier, Vermont allows the physician to examine the person by telehealth and some jurisdictions allow the lethal poison to be sent to the person by mail/courier.
Clearly the laws differ in the states where it has been legalized.
LifeNews.com Note: Alex Schadenberg is the executive director of the Euthanasia Prevention Coalition and you can read his blog here.
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