Updated Analysis of the Initiated Measure

Margaret Dore, Esq.

To view this analysis as a pdf, click the following links containing: an index; a memo; and an appendix, parts one and two.

I. INTRODUCTION

I am an attorney in Washington State where assisted suicide is legal. Our law is based on a similar law in Oregon. Both laws are similar to the initiated measure.

The measure seeks to legalize assisted suicide and euthanasia as those terms are traditionally defined. If enacted, it will apply to people with decades to live; it will encourage elder abuse and financial exploitation, which are already problems in South Dakota. It will allow legal murder.

Don’t make Washington and Oregon’s mistake. I urge you to reject the initiated measure.

" If Dr. Stevens had believed in assisted suicide, I would be dead"

Jeanette & her son Scott in 2000

By Jeanette Hall

I live in Oregon where assisted suicide is legal. Our law passed in 1997 by a ballot measure that I voted for.

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.